Niël Terblanché
The aviation industry in Namibia has lamented the deaths of the two men, 54-year-old Jaques Jacobs and 29-year-old Dirk von Weidts, who were on board the helicopter that crashed on the outskirts of Swakopmund on Monday afternoon.
A large number of people took to social media to pay their respects and share their condolences with the families and friends of the two men who were busy with a test flight when the tragedy occurred.
Jacobs, who piloted the Robinson R44 at the time of tragedy, was an experienced flight instructor and also served in the Namibian Airforce in his younger days while Von Weidts was a few months away from qualifying as an aircraft maintenance engineer.
Neither of the deceased persons was involved in the maintenance that was performed on the helicopter before the crash occurred.
According to Inspector Ileni Shapumba, the head of the Community Affairs Division of the Namibian Police in the Erongo Region, the crash occurred at about 15:45 on Monday afternoon.
He added that a full investigation of the fatal crash has already begun.
“The accident scene was attended and all possible observations and investigations were done by detectives. The initial investigation also included local aviation accident investigators,” he said.
According to Inspector Shapumba, the preliminary investigation found that maintenance work has been done on the helicopter. The work included the replacement of rotor blades.
Jacobs and Von Weidts were requested to take the aircraft for a test flight to assess the work and its airworthiness.
From the positioning of the wreckage, it seems as if the tail rotor boom of the helicopter detached from the main fuselage while in flight because it fell almost 200 metres away from it.
The actual cause of the deadly crash is still the subject of a specialised investigation that will be performed by officials of the Directorate of Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigations.
