Pretoria – Harrismith

On January 18, 2005 at 04:55 PM, Pretoria – Harrismith experienced a crash involving Piper PA-60 Aerostar (Ted Smith 600), operated by Aquila Air, with the event recorded near Cornelia Free State.

The flight was categorized as private and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

5 people were known to be on board, 5 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 4, passenger fatalities: 4, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. On 18 January 2005 at approximately 1340Z, the pilot accompanied by 4 passengers, took off on a private flight from FAWB (Wonderboom Aerodrome) to FAHS (Harrismith aerodrome). However, the pilot advised the FAWB ATC (Wonderboom Air Traffic Controller) that the intended destination was Springs via Delmas. Sometime after 1455Z the aircraft impacted the ground at a high descent rate and high forward speed on a heading of 260°M in a 15° nose-down and 30° right-wing low attitude, whilst the nose of the aircraft was facing in a direction of 211°M, near Cornelia. Partly cloudy weather conditions, with isolated thundershowers prevailed at the time of the accident. Although there were no eyewitnesses to the accident, local inhabitants reported a severe storm in the vicinity of the accident site at the estimated time of the accident. The five occupants were fatally injured and the aircraft destroyed on impact.

Aircraft reference details include registration N7478S, MSN 60-0041-090, year of manufacture 1970.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -27.2361°, 28.8514°.