MECHANICAL error was the cause of death

MECHANICAL error was the cause of death of a young Namibian pilot in May this year at the Hosea Kutako Intentional Airport, the final report on the incident has found.

The investigation into the death of Tiaan Oberholzer (21), a Desert Air pilot on May 22, has determined the cause of the accident was due to a "broken left hand magneto ground wire".

In the final report issued this month, the Directorate of Aircraft Accident Investigations at the Ministry of Works and Transport, stated that Oberholzer "decided to do a final walk around inspection" after he had loaded four passengers into the Cessna 210 aircraft. He was due to fly the passengers on a safari flight to Doro Nawas and other tourism destinations.

The report notes that when the aircraft was parked at the tarmac, Oberholzer decided to do the final walk around inspection and "without knowing that the left hand magneto ground wire was broken, he manually rotated the propeller resulting in a pre-detonation. This triggered the engine as the left hand magneto was live and the propeller suddenly turned ...". After this, "one of its blades hit the pilot on his left hand arm, cutting off the watch from his wrist and another blade struck him on the right side of his head, leaving him with a deep cut that was bleeding heavily".

The report states that Oberholzer likely sustained a fractured skull from the blade, which bled heavily. Although he was rushed to the hospital, Oberholzer died from fatal injuries late on Sunday night.

The investigation looked at the last mandatory periodic inspection (MPI) conducted on the aircraft, which took place on April 12 2011. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had accumulated an additional 38,1 hours of flight since the MPI certification in April. The MPI certificate was released with an expiry date of November 29 2011, and according to the investigation, the MPI had complied with all requirements.

According to the investigation report, the Ministry strongly recommends that "all maintenance personnel, company support services, private aircraft owners as well as pilots should treat the aircraft propeller as live at all times".