Airquarius Air Charter

Avro 748

The aircraft was on a scheduled freight flight from Bloemfontein to George. Poor weather conditions prevailed over the George area and the pilots had to execute an instrument guided approach for the landing. The ground based Instrument Landing System (ILS) on Runway 29 at George Aerodrome was intermittently unreliable during the approach. The pilots decided to execute a missed approach. During the missed approach the pilots did not comply with the published missed approach procedure and with a combination of strong winds and possible erroneous heading indications they lost situational awareness. They flew the aircraft into a valley and crashed into the side of the mountains North-East of the George Aerodrome. The passenger was Hansie Cronje, a former South African cricket captain who had missed a South African Airlines flight.

Avro 748

During the flight from Skukuza to Pilanesberg the aircraft developed a hydraulic problem, resulting in a complete hydraulic failure. However, a safe landing was carried out at Pilanesberg on Runway 23. Shortly after the landing the pilot shut down both engines, but maintained the runway heading for approximately 2000m, before the aircraft veered off to the left of the runway where it entered a ditch, 75m from the runway edge, where it finally stopped. There were no injuries, but the aircraft sustained extensive damage and substantial damage was caused to the perimeter fence around the airport. Both the pilot and the co-pilot were correctly licenced and type rated on the aircraft. Apart from the CVR, which was inoperative at the time of the accident and a leaking L/H hydraulic pump, it would appear that the aircraft was correctly maintained. Fine weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The pilot informed Pilanesberg ATC of a complete hydraulic failure, but did not declare an emergency. The pilot failed to switch off the Nose Wheel Steering after touchdown and also shut down both hydraulic cut-off switches. The Emergency Checklist does not provide for a complete hydraulic failure.