From cruising altitude to forced landing on the N4 near Ngodwana
An investigation is still under way into the forced landing of a Cessna 172 on the N4 near Ngodwana on Saturday March 9, which had to be executed by Lowveld pilot Charmaine Vincent after the engine in the plane she was flying had suffered a loss of power.
Aviation authorities are still in the process of collecting all available information relating to the forced landing of a Cessna 172 on the N4 near Ngodwana on Saturday March 9.
This is according to Sisa Majola of the South African Civil Aviation Authority, who confirmed to Lowvelder that their Accident Incident Investigation Division was not dispatched to the site of the landing.
“We are in the process of collecting all the relevant information related to the occurrence,” he said.
Majola indicated that the plane had needed to make a forced landing due to a “rough running engine”.
The aeroplane was carrying three people – the plane’s owner, Stan Spear, the pilot, Charmaine Vincent, and her 12-year-old son, Kalvin. The incident occurred around midday on Saturday, and they had just taken off from the Nelspruit Airport at 11:45.
According to Vincent, everything was running perfectly during the climb to cruising altitude at 8 500ft.
“It was only once we reached cruising altitude that we suddenly got an indication that the engine was losing power. This was really weird, because typically when these things happen, they tend to happen during the climb, not during the cruise.”
Thankfully Vincent, who is an instructor at the Lowveld Aero Club, was not fazed and immediately kicked into gear.
“I just started going through the regular procedures when this kind of thing happens. We then called in mayday, and I began looking around for where we could land.”
Spear said their initial aim was to try and land at Ngodwana, where there is another small landing strip.
“We soon realised we wouldn’t make it, and thought of trying to land at a private strip just before Ndogwana. This, too, wasn’t an option anymore, but then Vincent remembered an open field next to the N4, before Ngodwana, where we could possibly land.”
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When they neared the open field, another more ideal landing opportunity presented itself.
“I had previously thought of landing on the N4, but the road was too winding, so it wasn’t possible. But when we made the turn to the field, all of a sudden the road was nice and straight, and there was very little traffic on the road, too,” said Vincent.
She dropped the landing gear and elected to set the plane down on the N4, with only some oncoming traffic.
Thankfully no one was hurt and the plane sustained no damage.
