Pilot erred before crash

The Swiss pilot who was killed in a glider accident on Christmas Eve 2015 was acting nervously and had made mistakes before take-off from Bitterwasser Lodge. His body was discovered two days later at a farm west of Uhlenhorst. This is according to the final accident report that has been released more than a year after the 46-year-old Swiss national, Maurizio Ivano Bofchetty Zurich, was killed in the glider accident. The cause of the accident was identified as “loss of control”. The Ventus glider took off from Bitterwasser flight centre on 24 December 2015 for a private gliding flight. The pilot was the only occupant and he was expected back at the Bitterwasser airfield before sunset the same day, but did not return. The pilot did not file a flight plan. His absence was immediately reported to the authorities and a search was initiated, which yielded no results. The glider was found by a farmer on the farm Stryfontein at 07:45 on December 26. It appeared that the glider had struck the ground in a near vertical attitude at high speed and had disintegrated upon impact. According to the report, the pilot helper observed on the day of the flight that the pilot was not comfortable with the flight. He noticed that the pilot was wearing his parachute the wrong way around and the helper had to correct it. “The interview conducted with the pilot helper revealed that the pilot did not look ready to fly because he was making some mistakes and at some point was shivering, but when he was asked if he was okay and ready to continue with the flight he answered yes,” says the report. The report says the pilot helper was not empowered to halt the flight, nor was there any procedure for him to do so. It also points out that the autopsy was carried out by a qualified medical doctor but it was the view of the investigation that the autopsy should have been performed by an aviation doctor who understands and can interpret the effects of such a crash on a human body. The report says although the pilot had flown several glider aircraft, no information on his introductory training, or his flying experience in that type of aircraft, was listed. It was recommended that the Bitterwasser flight centre should set up a training programme and procedures that will enable the glider helper to identify safety concerns and report them immediately to the flight operation office so that a professional assessment can be made before a flight, if needed. The report also recommends that the Namibian Civil Aviation Authority should extend the mandate of its designated examiners in aviation medicine to carry out autopsies when required in an aircraft accident. ELLANIE SMIT

Pilot erred before crash

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-06

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Pilot erred before crash

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-06

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