Namibia Plane Crash Remains a Mystery
Tim Clarke
Advertiser Adelaide
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Perth (Australia):
The cause of a plane crash in Namibia that killed an Australian researcher and his New Zealand colleague is still a mystery, the men's employer said today.
West Australian man Ian Payne, 38, was a passenger in the Cessna 210 aircraft flown by New Zealander Dougal Williamson, which crashed about 80km south-west of the capital, Windhoek, on Thursday morning.
According to reports in Namibia, the aircraft had taken off from Windhoek's Eros Airport about 30 minutes before the crash, and the men were conducting an aerial survey when it crashed in an area known as Farm Goellschau.
Farm workers told media how they first saw a plume of thick black smoke on the horizon, and drove to the area to discover the burning wreckage.They alerted staff at a nearby gamma-ray telescope, who contacted police and air safety authorities.
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GPX Airborne Website
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The Antipodeans men were in the country working for a subsidiary of Perth-based company GPX, whose airborne division offers fixed-wing and helicopter-borne geophysics and remote sensing to mining, oil and environmental industries and government agencies.Mr Payne lived in Jakarta with his wife and young child, and still has relatives in Perth, while Mr Williamson lived close to family in Queensland.
Pat Cunneen, managing director of GPX airborne, said the men were highly experienced flyers and very professional, and the reasons for the crash were still a mystery."
There are bits of the mosaic still missing," Mr Cunneen said."They were away from the survey area, so should have been high, they were flying away from the sun, they were still under power and the wheels were up."They could even have landed on the road if they'd wanted, but that obviously was not on their mind."We are still very much in the dark."
Oct 23, 2005
Tim ClarkeAdvertiser Adelaide
____________
Perth (Australia):
The cause of a plane crash in Namibia that killed an Australian researcher and his New Zealand colleague is still a mystery, the men's employer said today.
West Australian man Ian Payne, 38, was a passenger in the Cessna 210 aircraft flown by New Zealander Dougal Williamson, which crashed about 80km south-west of the capital, Windhoek, on Thursday morning.
According to reports in Namibia, the aircraft had taken off from Windhoek's Eros Airport about 30 minutes before the crash, and the men were conducting an aerial survey when it crashed in an area known as Farm Goellschau.
Farm workers told media how they first saw a plume of thick black smoke on the horizon, and drove to the area to discover the burning wreckage.They alerted staff at a nearby gamma-ray telescope, who contacted police and air safety authorities.
________________
GPX Airborne Website
________________
The Antipodeans men were in the country working for a subsidiary of Perth-based company GPX, whose airborne division offers fixed-wing and helicopter-borne geophysics and remote sensing to mining, oil and environmental industries and government agencies.Mr Payne lived in Jakarta with his wife and young child, and still has relatives in Perth, while Mr Williamson lived close to family in Queensland.
Pat Cunneen, managing director of GPX airborne, said the men were highly experienced flyers and very professional, and the reasons for the crash were still a mystery."
There are bits of the mosaic still missing," Mr Cunneen said."They were away from the survey area, so should have been high, they were flying away from the sun, they were still under power and the wheels were up."They could even have landed on the road if they'd wanted, but that obviously was not on their mind."We are still very much in the dark."
Oct 23, 2005
