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Cops finish plane-crash probe
18/04/2008 09:00 - (SA)
Christo Vermaak, Die Burger
Oudtshoorn - The police's investigation of the plane accident on New Year's Day in the Swartberg has been concluded.
But, the investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) still is continuing.
The pilot, Phillip Ginsberg, 51, his girlfriend, Alta Bezuidenhout, 40, and her two daughters Jacqueline, 19, and Lisa, 13, died when the four-seater Piper 180 aircraft, in which they were presumably flying to Pretoria, flew into the Swartberg in thick mist.
They had spent the holiday with Bezuidenhout's parents in Mossel Bay and had taken off from George Airport earlier in the day. The accident took place about 11:00 on New Year's Day.
Flew into rock formation
Residents of Matjies River in the valley at the foot of the Swartberg said they had seen the aeroplane trying to fly out from under the thick clouds.
Ginsberg presumably saw a break in the clouds and tried to head towards it to fly above the mist.
He flew into a rock formation just beneath the summit of the mountain near Skelmdraai in the Swartberg Pass.
Captain Louis Visser of Oudtshoorn police said this week that the CAA's investigation could take up to 18 months.
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