Section/division Accident and Incident Investigation Division Form Number: CA 12-14 PRELIMINARY OCCURRENCE REPORT Reference number : CA18/2/3/9736 Name of Owner : Lanseria Flight Centre (Pty) Ltd Name of Operator : Lanseria Flight Centre (Pty) Ltd Manufacturer : Cessna Aircraft Company Model : 172L Nationality : South African Registration markings : ZS-PZT Place : Residential property, Vorna Valley, Gauteng Date : 8 October 2018 Time : 0918Z All times given in this report are Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC) and will be denoted by (Z). South African Standard Time is UTC plus 2 hours. The information provided herein is of a preliminary nature. Readers are advised that new information may become available that may alter this preliminary report prior to the publication of the final report. Any person with information that might assist in investigating the cause of the accident is requested to present the information or themselves to the Accident and Incident Investigation Division of the SACAA, or send an e-mail to AiidInbox@caa.co.za. This report is issued in accordance with Civil Aviation Regulation (CAR) 2011 Part 12.05.1(2)(a) and ICAO Annex 13 Paragraph 7.1 or 7.2, whichever is applicable. 1. The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) is conducting a safety investigation into a fatal aircraft accident involving a Cessna 172, with registration markings ZS-PZT. The accident occurred on Monday, 8 October 2018 in Vorna Valley, Gauteng. 2. The investigation is being conducted in accordance with international protocol as set out by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 13. The investigation team consisted of an investigator-in-charge (IIC) and he was accompanied by a co-investigator. The investigating team arrived on site approximately 40 minutes after the accident occurred. CA 12-14 13 FEBRUARY 2018 Page 1 of 8
Figure 1: The aircraft prior to the accident (hebels.nl) 3. History of flight 3.1 On Monday 8 October 2018, at 0833Z, a student pilot, flying a Cessna 172L with registration markings ZS-PZT, departed from Grand Central Aerodrome (FAGC) on a solo training flight. The student pilot intention was to remaining in the circuit (see Figure 3 for an example of a circuit) to practise touch-and-go landings at FAGC on runway 35. The flight was operated under the provisions of Part 141 of the South African Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR) 2011. Note: A touch-and-go landing is describes as: "A landing with just enough time on the ground to reconfigure the airplane for another take-off, the purpose of a touchand-go is to compress more landings (and take-offs) into a flying lesson. Mastery Flight Training Inc. in the Federal Aviation Administration FLYING LESSONS for January 27, 2011 3.2 Following her fifth touch and go exercise, while the aircraft was on the upwind leg, another Cessna 172 with registration ZS-SCB entered the left-hand circuit for runway 35 on an early downwind. The student pilot flying the accident aircraft was requested by the air traffic controller (ATC) at FAGC to enter the downwind leg behind the aircraft ZS-SCB. CA 12-14 13 FEBRUARY 2018 Page 2 of 8
3.3 Once the accident aircraft was established on the downwind leg, at 0916Z, the pilot was requested to carry out one orbit to the right and re-establish on the downwind due to the short distance between the two aircraft in the circuit. Note: An Orbit is defined as, a 360 degree, rate one turn maneuver, either to the left or right as instructed. This reference is used by the training school as their definition of an orbit. 3.4 At 0917Z, an inaudible transmission was heard on the FAGC tower frequency. Immediately after this transmission, the air traffic controller attempted multiple times to make radio contact with the accident aircraft, but it was to no avail. 3.6 The aircraft wreckage was located in the back yard of a residential property in Vorna Valley. The aircraft came to rest in an inverted position and the fuselage was broken in two after impacting a tree. 3.7 The pilot and a gardener working on the property at the time of the accident sustained fatal injuries. The aircraft was destroyed during the impact sequence. 3.9 Damage to property on the ground included a section of the roof structure of the neighbouring house, a perimeter wall between the two properties a shed and some vegetation. The location of the accident site. (2nm to the south west of FAGC) Figure 2: Google Earth overlay indicating the location of the accident site (Google Earth) CA 12-14 13 FEBRUARY 2018 Page 3 of 8
The take-off leg is also referred to as the upwind leg Figure 3: Example of an airfield circuit layout (parafield airport) Figure 4: Rear view of the aircraft as it came to rest CA 12-14 13 FEBRUARY 2018 Page 4 of 8
Right wing Left wing Engine and propeller Cabin area Figure 5: Front view of the aircraft wreckage Findings 4. Although the investigation is ongoing, the following findings have been made: Student pilot 4.1 The student pilot was issued with a student pilot licence on 26 July 2018 with an expiry date of 25 July 2019. The aircraft type was endorsed on the student pilot s licence. The student pilot was issued a class 2 aviation medical certificate with an expiry date of 27 June 2023. 4.2 Prior to the flight carried out on 08 October 2018, the pilot had accumulated a total of 36.4 flying hours of which 2.0 hours were solo flight time and 34.4 hours were dual flight instruction time. Note: A solo flight and a dual instruction time are defined as follows: solo flight, means flight time during which the student pilot is the sole occupant of the aircraft and in which there is no other person present in the aircraft, be it an instructor, a safety pilot, another student pilot or any other passenger and CA 12-14 13 FEBRUARY 2018 Page 5 of 8
dual instruction time, in terms of flight training, means flight time during which a person is receiving flight instruction from a properly authorised pilot on board the aircraft. South African Civil Aviation Regulations 2011 4.3 All the flying hours accrued by the student pilot were on the Cessna 172 aircraft, and all flying training was carried out by the same aviation-training organisation. 4.4 The student pilot started her flight training on 10 June 2018 with an introduction flight and after flying dual instruction for 29.9 hours in 29 flights and she was signed out for solo flight. 4.5 She completed her initial solo flight on 13 September 2018 and she flew for 0.4 hours. She completed two more solo flight bringing her total solo flight time to 02hours and those flights were done on 01 October 2018. On the day of the accident she flew five (05) solo circuit training flight and the accident occurred on her sixth solo circuit training flight. 4.6 She had completed a total of 36.4 hours flying time prior to the accident and these hours excludes the hours flown on the day of the accident. She was signed off as satisfactory to carry out an orbit in the circuit on 5 August 2018. 4.7 On 07 October 2018 the instructor made a comment in the training file that, the student pilot froze on the controls during final approach for landing. This means that she would concentrate on the numbers without looking up along the runway which will in most cases lead to the loss of depth perception resulting on a hard landing. 4.7 The student pilot and a gardener who was working in the property were the accident occurred were fatally injured. Aircraft 4.8 The aircraft involved in the accident was a Cessna 172L. It was manufactured in 1972 and was first registered in South Africa on 3 January 2008. 4.9 The aircraft was issued with an initial certificate of airworthiness on 1 September 2008 with an expiry date of 30 September 2019. CA 12-14 13 FEBRUARY 2018 Page 6 of 8
4.10 The last mandatory periodic inspection (MPI) prior to the accident was carried out on 4 October 2018 at 10450.20 airframe hours. The certificate of release to service was issued on 4 October 2018 with an expiry date of 3 October 2019 or at 10500.20 hours (whichever elapses first). The aircraft had flown approximately 5 hours since the last MPI. 4.11 No defects were listed in the flight folio since the last MPI. 4.12 The aircraft had been refuelled on the morning with 96 litres of Avgas. By the time the student pilot commenced the flight, the aircraft still had a 3-hour flight endurance with the fuel that was on board the aircraft. 4.13 The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces. Environment 4.14 The flight was conducted during daylight conditions, with visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailing. 4.15 The meteorological aerodrome report (METAR) for FAGC at 0900Z indicates the following weather conditions: Surface wind: 300 /06kts, Temperature: 25 C, Dew point: 2 C, Clouds: Ceiling and visibility OK (CAVOK), QNH: 1028hPa. 4.16 The runway in use at the time of the accident at FAGC was runway 35. This runway has a left-hand circuit pattern. 4.17 The accident site was in a residential area, which was approximately 2 nm southwest of FAGC. 4.18 The aviation training organisation held a valid Training Approval Certificate (part 141) which expires on 30 June 2022. 5 Recommendations 5.1 By the time this preliminary report was concluded no safety recommendations had been issued. CA 12-14 13 FEBRUARY 2018 Page 7 of 8
6 Conclusion 6.1 The SACAA investigation is on-going and we will be looking into other aspects of this accident, which may or may not have safety implications. CA 12-14 13 FEBRUARY 2018 Page 8 of 8