Seconds before the 2011 Italtile aircraft crash, a passenger called to let someone know the plane was being diverted.
|||Cape Town - Seconds before the 2011 Italtile aircraft crash, a passenger on board made a phone call letting someone in Plettenberg Bay know they were being diverted to George.
In light drizzle and thick fog the aircraft then plunged into the sea just off the Plettenberg Bay coast on February 8, 2011.
The pilot, co-pilot and seven passengers - including Italtile chief executive Gianpaolo Ravazzotti - were killed. The Pilatus PC-12 aircraft was flying from Queenstown to Plettenberg Bay.
The aircraft disappeared off the radar about 4.33pm and no distress call was received. The investigation revealed the probable cause of the crash to be “a possible in-flight upset associated with a loss of control during IMC (instrument meteorological conditions)”.
This aviation term refers to weather conditions which force pilots to fly with reference to their instruments, rather than by what they see outside, due to bad weather.
Contributing factors to the crash included that “judgement and decision-making (were) lacking by the crew”.
“The crew continued from the seaward side with the approach during IMC conditions and not diverting to an alternative aerodrome
with proper approach facilities timeously although a cellphone call in this regard indicate such an intention.”
There was also a possibility that the pilot flying at the time had become “spatially disorientated” while flying in those conditions and attempting to divert to George - this was “a significant contributory factor to this accident”.
The crew had “deviated from standard operating procedures” by choosing to “approach the aerodrome from the sea side”.
The reason for this could not be determined. The probe also found that it was the first time that the two crew members had flown together. Investigators found no evidence of pre- or post-impact fire and no indication of any engine-related problem. The aircraft also did not make the right-hand turn necessary to divert to George, as was indicated would happen by the phone call.
It also found that pilot Bronwyn Parsons, 32, had 10 years’ flying experience and was familiar with the aircraft as she had flown it regularly for three years. The aircraft was destroyed on impact with the sea.
Recovered parts included the propeller with two of the four blades still attached, the engine, a section of the left wing, and several parts of the fuselage.
The probe found the crash was “not considered a survivable accident due to the high kinetic energy associated with the impact sequence that was well above that of human tolerance”.
Details about the cause of the crash were in a report recently released by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The Cape Times reported last year that the investigation had been stalled because it appeared the CAA lacked the funding to recover parts of the wreckage from the ocean floor.
michelle.jones@inl.co.za
Cape Times