What happened
During an aerial demonstration at Cape Town Airport, three aircraft were performing a coordinated flight as part of an airshow. The Mercurius, flying alongside two other identical aircraft in a V formation, executed a low-altitude pass over the airfield before turning toward the west.
Shortly after this maneuver, all three aircraft impacted the side of Devil's Peak, located approximately 15 km west of Cape Town Airport. At the time of the impact, the mountain slope was obscured by heavy cloud cover. The collision resulted in the total destruction of all three planes and 11 fatalities among the crew members.
Findings
The investigation determined that the primary factor in the accident was controlled flight into terrain, as the aircraft entered an area of obscured terrain while maintaining controlled flight.