First solo crash landing
2004-06-02 09:18
Pretoria - He thought it was all over, but then the nose of the aircraft lifted and today he can tell the story of his narrow escape.
These were the words of a 17-year-old amateur pilot on Tuesday after his narrow escape from a flying death.
Byron Kluckow had to make a forced landing on a koppie close to the Rand Airport in Alberton shortly after take-off when the engine of the four-seater aircraft stalled.
"I wanted to make a U-turn and land at the airport but the engine lost power too fast. Everything started to jerk and shake and I realised I had to make a landing, wherever."
The Piper Cherokee 140 hit a koppie directly next to Rand Airport Road with a "tremendous thump" before it ploughed over a huge rock.
"When I hit that rock I thought 'this is the end'," Byron said after the crash.
But the aircraft's nose lifted again and it ground to a standstill, nose in the ground, a few metres beyond the rock.
Total shock
"I was in total shock. They (the flying school) drill the emergency procedures into your system but I had no idea that I would have to rely on them so soon."
Apart from a sore knee Byron escaped unharmed from the crash. He says he would have been killed had the plane ended up in a big hole a few hundred metres from where he did hit the ground. "I do not even want to think of that possibility."
Byron would have completed his training for a private pilot licence this week "but I think I will rather postpone it until next week".
He would have flown to Parys in the Free State on Tuesday as part of the requirements for his licence. This would have been his second solo flight.
Black smoke
Byron is convinced that a mechanical fault was the cause of the accident. "I did everything correctly and eyewitnesses say the engine emitted black smoke. I probably had engine problems."
Members of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were at the accident scene on Tuesday. They will examine the wreckage to establish the cause of the accident.
Bill Kluckow, Byron's father, is very proud of his son. "He deserves a medal for the way in which he avoided people, vehicles and roads when he made the forced landing."
Will he fly again? "Yes" was the simultaneous word from father and son. "This is my life. This is what I want to do," Byron added.