What happened
On November 6, 2001, a Cessna 185A, registration ZS-CTU, was involved in an accident during a landing attempt at Bethlehem. The aircraft was operating on a flight path that departed from and was intended to return to Bethlehem.
As the pilot attempted to land on the grass runway 31, the surface conditions were notably soft and wet following recent rainfall. During the landing roll, the aircraft began to skid, leading to a forward pitch of the nose. This loss of directional control caused the aircraft to overturn. While the incident resulted in substantial damage to the airframe, the pilot on board escaped the wreckage without injury.
The investigation
SACAA AIID investigators examined the aircraft's maintenance history and the environmental conditions at the time of the accident. The investigation confirmed that the aircraft had been maintained according to prescribed intervals. At the time of the occurrence, the aircraft was well within its maintenance schedule, having flown only 16.7 hours since its last Maintenance Program Inspection (MPI), which was not due until August 2002.
Meteorological data indicated favorable flying weather, characterized by a 15-knot westerly wind, though the recent rains had significantly altered the state of the runway surface.