The South African Police Service sadly confirms that one of its fixed-wing aircraft, a Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter, crashed at the Rand Airport (QRA/FAGM) in Germiston, Gauteng, at 14:30 on 30 August.
On board the aircraft registered ZS-NIT were five passengers and a pilot. When medics arrived at the scene they found that an aircraft had crashed towards the end of the runway. All five passengers have sadly lost their lives. The pilot is critically injured and has been airlifted to a nearby hospital via a private air ambulance for further medical care.
Authorities are on the scene to establish the cause of the accident. The aircraft went down when the left wing detached shortly after take-off on runway 29. The left wing was found 250m short of the main wreckage. After the left wing detached, the plane rolled to the left and went straight down. There is nothing the pilot could have done.
The passengers, a police officer and four civilians from Safomar were being taken for a flip, as a reward for recent hard work. Questions were asked as to how the left wing detached and whether the flight was authorised.
The details of the deceased and injured pilot will be released once their next of kin have been informed.
#sapsHQ #SAPS sadly confirms that one of its’ fixed wing aircrafts crashed at Rand Airport, Gauteng at 14:30 today. On board were 5 passengers & a pilot. All 5 passengers have sadly lost their lives and the pilot is critically injured. SWhttps://t.co/dG0llLYw4n pic.twitter.com/2lDIALxAGo
— SA Police Service ?? (@SAPoliceService) August 30, 2022
