Media Release

 

Tuesday, April 2, 2002

 

Judicial Inquest into the deaths arising from the aviation aircraft accident of ZS-OJY near Rand Airport on December 6, 1999.

 

 

The inquest into the deaths of the pilot and nine passengers in the crash of the Flightline Charter C.C’s flight from Rand Airport, Johannesburg to Orangemund, Namibia, on December 6, 1999, commenced today in the Edenvale Magistrate Court.

 

The inquest, ordered by the Minister of Justice, is scheduled to be conducted from April 2 to 26.

 

 

The Civil Aviation Authority conducted an investigation into the accident and issued a preliminary report in January 2000. A final report was issued in May 2001 detailing the factual information surrounding the tragic event including the history of the flight, the injuries to the persons on board, the damage to the aircraft and information on the pilot, the aircraft, the engines, meteorological information as well as the weight and balance of the aircraft for that flight and the communication between the pilot and the control tower at Rand Airport, amongst others.

 

The Commissioner for Civil Aviation, Trevor Abrahams, and the CAA accident and incident investigator in charge of this investigation, Dr. Andre De Kock, will be co-operating fully with the Inquest Magistrate in charge of this inquest.

 

“ We hope that inquest proceedings will assist the families of the deceased in reaching a more complete understanding on this tragic event” said the Commissioner for Civil Aviation, Trevor Abrahams.

 

The inquest magistrate said in his opening remarks this morning that this inquest is set out to determine three aspects, namely who the deceased are, how they died and if there is any liability attributable to any of the parties involved.

 

 

 

 

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