Vintage plane crash: Qantas pilots fight for life

Vision has emerged of the moments just before a vintage plane crashed in South Africa, killing two people | WATCH

A second person has died as a result of a plane crash during a test flight in South Africa that left three Australians, including the two pilots, in hospital.

The vintage Convair-340 crashed shortly after takeoff from Wonderboom airport in Pretoria about 4pm local time on Tuesday during a trial flight ahead of a long-haul journey to Lelystad Airport in The Netherlands where it was to become part of the Aviodrome aircraft museum.

One passenger - identified by South African media as as Pretorian flight engineer Chris Barnard - was killed when the plane came down and crashed into a factory, while another 19 people onboard, and two factory workers, were taken to hospital.

Aviodrome spokeswoman Lisette Kars later told The Australian that the second factory worker had also died.

“The plane crashed into the building where that person was working,” Ms Kars said.

“The first casualty was a person on the flight itself, a technical assistant from South Africa, and the second one was a factory worker from the building the plane crashed into.”

Pictures of the crumpled plane after the crash show it had split the long, rectangular building in two.

The plane was due to leave South Africa for a multi-leg journey to Holland on Thursday, depending on the flight conditions and whether any technical issues had come up as a result of the test flight, and would have taken until July 23 to arrive.

The tragedy has left the museum’s staff struggling to come to terms with what had happened. Three Aviodrome employees were also on the flight but have been discharged from hospital.

“We are all really shocked by the news today,” Ms Kars said.

“It’s really sad.”

Ross Kelly and wife Lyndal.

The two Australian pilots, Douglas Haywood and Ross Kelly, who were both taken to hospital with critical injuries, had been chosen because of their extensive experience, particularly with older aircraft.

“They’ve had a long time of experience with it, that’s why they were flying the plane,” Ms Kars said.

Qantas said in a statement the airline’s pilot community was in “deep shock” after A380 captains Douglas Haywood and Ross Kelly, who is retired, were critically injured.

The pair boast more than 37,000 hours’ flying experience between them and more than 30 years’ service with Qantas. Most on board were ­pilots, flight engineers or aviation enthusiasts.

“We were deeply upset to learn that two Qantas pilots, one current and one retired, were on board the vintage aircraft involved in an accident in South Africa on Tuesday,” a Qantas spokesman said last night.

“This news has shocked the Qantas pilot community and everyone’s thoughts are with the families. We’ve reached out and are providing whatever support we can.”

An aviation industry source said the Convair-340 was doing one final test flight before its journey to The Netherlands. “It was a farewell circuit to say goodbye,” he said. “They were testing it with weight, that’s why they had so many people on board.

“They’re probably some of the best aviators. They can fly everything. We’re all smashed. We’re all smashed by the whole news. These guys are just legends.”

South African Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Pappie Maja told The Australian that there were 14 South Africans on board the flight, along with the three Dutch employees of the Aviodrome museum and the Australians.

“Everyone who was involved in the accident was taken to the hospital,” Mr Maja said.

A number of the injuries were described as “serious”.

Investigators were expected to carefully comb through the wreckage to piece together what caused the plane to crash before delivering a report on the incident.

“So far our investigators are still working on the investigation and we will have to wait on the preliminary report which will be available in 30 days,” Mr Maja said.

The SACAA said the aircraft had a Certificate of Airworthiness, which was due to expire on August 15, 2018.

Mr Kelly and Mr Haywood were involved in bringing a Convair 440 aeroplane to Australia in 2016, also from South Africa.

Mr Kelly, who has volunteered with the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society in Albion Park, south of Sydney, since 2000, flew with Qantas for 31 years.

He was a captain on both the Lockheed C-121C Super Constellation and Lockheed SP2-H Neptune aircraft the ­society manages.

Douglas Haywood.

Mr Haywood joined HARS in 1993, and started learning to fly while still at high school. He joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1976, flying a number of military planes until 1984.

­According to the HARS website, he flies the “Caribou, Dakota, Convair 440, Constellation and Tiger Moth and whatever else he can get his hands on”.

The Australian revealed yesterday afternoon that three Australians were injured in the crash of the vintage plane and were receiving consular assistance.

South Africa’s Eyewitness News reported that Tshwane emergency services worker Johan Pieterse said four of the injured passengers were trapped in the wreck and they had to use specialised rescue equipment to free them.

Aviodrome has reached out to the families of the passengers on board the flight and the museum’s general manager Serena van Kammen was travelling to Pretoria to assist those involved.

With Charlie Peel in London