Africa-Press – Namibia. A PILOT who died in a glider accident in the Rehoboth area about two weeks ago was not licensed to fly that type of aircraft.
This is stated in a preliminary report on the investigation of the crash that was released by the Ministry of Works and Transport on Monday.
“There was no indication from the [pilot’s] log book and existing records that he was authorised or received training to fly a glider,” the report reads.
In the report, aircraft accident investigator Hafeni Mweshixwa states that the last recorded flight of the pilot, Joern Steinbeck (54), in his logbook was in September 2017.
Steinbeck died on 29 January when the glider he was piloting crashed to the ground shortly after take-off at camp Bahnhof about 15 kilometres south-east of Rehoboth.
Steinbeck had a private pilot licence, but there was no evidence to indicate that the licence had been renewed after it expired in October 2018, it is also recorded in the report.
Mweshixwa recounts in the report that the glider piloted by Steinbeck was gaining height after it had been launched, but suddenly plummeted to the ground after about 20 seconds of flight.
The aircraft had gained a height of 70 to 100 metres before it crashed.
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