Accident Overview
On 5 June 1983, a Cessna 402 aircraft crashed on the Polkadraai Road between Kuils River and Stellenbosch, South Africa. The pilot, Lorance Weinberg, had booked the aircraft under false pretenses for a flight to Durban but instead transported nine passengers to Cape Town for a wedding.
Pilot Background
Weinberg had a history of logging flight hours on aircraft he was not trained to fly, and logging hours as a passenger in aircraft he did not operate. He was not instrument-rated, yet on the day after arriving in Cape Town, he filed an IFR flight plan to return to Johannesburg, experiencing difficulty completing the forms.
Flight Details
The aircraft departed shortly before 13:00 in deteriorating weather conditions. Weinberg immediately encountered trouble, failing to follow air traffic control instructions and evading their queries. Radar tracking showed the aircraft flying in ever-decreasing circles until it crashed.
Casualties and Survivors
The crash killed the pilot, five adult passengers, and a baby. Two adult passengers survived.
Official Probable Cause
The CAA determined that the pilot undertook a flight for which he was not qualified or trained to act as pilot in command. He took off in instrument meteorological conditions without an instrument rating, suffered from spatial disorientation, and due to lack of training, flew into the ground.