Broken Wire Prime Suspect in Young Pilot’s Death

Jana-Mari Smith

24 May 2011

AN investigation into the accident that killed a young Namibian pilot on Sunday has revealed that a wire in the ignition system was broken.

“The prime suspect so far is that the left hand magneto wire was found broken,” Erickson Nengola, head of the aircraft accident investigation team in the Ministry of Works and Transport, said yesterday.

The investigation was launched early yesterday morning, after Tiaan Oberholzer (21), a pilot at Desert Air, died on Sunday night after he sustained a fatal head injury from a propeller.

The unconscious Oberholzer was found by a Desert Air colleague shortly after he had fallen to the ground at the Hosea Kutako International Airport at around 14h00 on Sunday afternoon.

Although there were no eyewitnesses, the question as to what Oberholzer had been doing so close to the propeller during his final round of checks after he had loaded his passengers, was on everyone’s lips on Monday.

One of the investigators yesterday said it was unlikely that Oberholzer was attempting to do a “hand start”, and that he was in fact doing a routine propeller test. It was for this reason that he was caught unawares when the propeller “fired” on before it switched off again.

Nengola said yesterday that the broken wire could explain why the propeller switched on for a few seconds, striking Oberholzer on the arm and head.

Nengola said the investigating team suspects, from the evidence gathered so far, that Oberholzer “wanted to check if the propeller was rotating freely” shortly before take-off. Oberholzer was unaware that the magneto wire was broken, Nengola explained.

“The magneto was still alive. The ignition was on inside the cockpit, and by turning the propeller, that triggered it to go fast and he was struck.”

Witnesses say Oberholzer did not regain consciousness after the accident. He was already in a critical condition when he was rushed by ambulance to the Roman Catholic Hospital, where he was put on life support. He was declared dead just after eight on Sunday night.

Oberholzer is survived by his parents and a brother.

AllAfrica – All the Time