Skydivers bail out as plane's engine fails

Skydivers bail out as plane's engine fails
21/01/2008 11:59 - (SA)

Johannesburg - Four skydivers had to bail out of a light plane high above Grahamstown after the engine failed, the Herald Online reported on Monday.

The newspaper reported that commercial pilot Alexander Hammerschmidt, 42, was the toast of the EP Skydiving Club after he was forced to perform an emergency landing on a dirt road around 11:00 on Sunday. Hammerschmidt landed the 1965 Cessna 206 on a straight stretch of dirt road on the Whites Farm road 12km from town.

Club owner Joos Vos said the pilot had to glide down to the road from 609,6m in the air.
"He came in with full flaps and applied hard brakes. The road was not the best, but it worked on the day." Hammerschmidt had to avoid fences which were only two metres either side of the wingtips. "He was brilliant! He was also the only person in the plane who did not have a parachute!" Vos told the Herald.

However, the four parachutists - Port Elizabeth mechanical engineer Gera Felix, Port Elizabeth-based MTN technician Deon Jones, Lluwellan Henman from East London and Vos - had to land in the bush - but there were no injuries.

An added bonus for Vos was that the plane, valued at R1m, was not damaged during the landing, the Herald said. "We have our emergency procedures and there were no problems," he said of the emergency jump and landing, adding it was the first time in a decade that the club plane had suffered engine failure.

Vos told the Herald that the plane was serviced regularly in Port Elizabeth. "It was just one of those things," he said.

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