Del FB de Combat Learjet
Aircraft strikes and gets hung up on cable, Pilanesberg, 2018-09-28. Two occupants of a light aircraft had to be rescued after their plane struck a 2km long zipline cable near Sun City/Pilanesberg (North West Province, South Africa). Fortunately, the pair escaped major injuries as the aircraft did not immediately fall the approximately 100m to the ground but instead got precariously hung up on the cable via the aircrafts propeller assembly. Local emergency were quick to reach the scene and immediately secured the area but were unable to assist as the aircraft was suspended approximately 100m above the ground. The Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC), which is based at the OR Tambo International Airport ATNS facility, took charge of the incident and assembled a team from Johannesburg to fly to the scene and execute the rescue of the occupants. Volunteer rescuers from the Mountain Club of South Africa Search and Rescue (MSAR) which had cableway rescue experience, as well as the necessary equipment (including several hundred meters of rope) were flown to the incident from Johannesburg via helicopters from the SAPS Air Wing and Menno Parsons, a private aircraft owner and pilot.
After considering several rescue strategies, the most feasible rescue plan involved a rescuer, attached to the cable, being guided down the zip line down to the aircraft. The rescuer’s position was controlled from the top station of the zip line via several long ropes which were had to be joined to cover the significant distance. As there was no possibility to inspect the situation close-up and plan the extraction of the aircraft’s occupants in detail prior to committing to the cable, several bags of equipment (including cables to secure the wreck) as well as more than two hundred meters of rope were taken along by a rescuer as backup.