History of Flight
On the morning of 13 September 2012, the pilot, accompanied by two passengers, departed Newcastle aerodrome (FANC) on a private flight and landed at Pietermaritzburg aerodrome (FAPM) at 0523Z. The aircraft was parked, and the three occupants attended an agricultural conference in the city. Later that afternoon, they returned to the aerodrome for the return flight to FANC. At 1507Z, the aircraft was cleared for take-off under Special Visual Flight Rules (SVFR) by air traffic control, using runway 16. Approximately ten minutes after take-off, a witness heard an aircraft flying above the clouds and then observed it descending through the clouds in a spiral, continuing in that attitude until impact with dense bush and mountainous terrain. Following impact, the aircraft was consumed by fire. The pilot had indicated to ATC a desire to fly via Greytown. The captain of a scheduled flight (Link 741) noted that they had held for thunderstorm activity and advised against a VFR departure, but the pilot of ZS-TVR continued with take-off. The last fuel uplift documented was 124 litres of Avgas 100L on 10 September 2012 at Newcastle; no fuel was uplifted at FAPM on the accident day.
Injuries and Damage
All three occupants—the pilot and two passengers—were fatally injured. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the post-impact fire. Minor damage to vegetation occurred at the crash site.
Probable Cause
The pilot most probably became spatially disorientated after entering an area of adverse weather conditions (thunderstorm activity), which resulted in a loss of control of the aircraft with inadequate height available to recover.