Family of four killed on last day of dream holiday as rookie pilot, 21, crashes ‘overloaded’ plane into river
A FAMILY of four were horrifically killed on the last day of their dream holiday after a rookie pilot crashed an "overloaded" plane into a river.
Thomas Rings, 59, his wife Dr Evelyn Rings, 57, and daughters Alicia, 19, and Paulina, 17, died when the light aircraft plunged nose-first into crocodile-infested waters.
The family were leaving the stunning waterside lodge they had stayed at for three days on the River Chobe in Namibia.
They fatefully climbed into a Cessna 210 high-wing plane with newly-qualified pilot Nicole Mienie, 21, for a two-hour trip in August 2022.
But the doomed journey back to the capital Windhoek ended in tragedy as the plane had already exceeded its maximum weight limit.
Nicole had first "ballooned" her plane off the runway and back up into the air while trying to land to pick up the waiting passengers.
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An Air Accident Investigation then heard how the Cessna C210 quickly ran into trouble just moments after take-off after turning too early.
The aircraft tumbled out of the sky and smashed into trees before plunging into the nearby River Zambezi, with locals describing hearing a "loud bang".
Rescuers harrowingly heard screams from the waterlogged wreckage as they smashed their way into the cockpit with axes.
But by the time they made their way inside the waterlogged aircraft, the German family and the South African pilot were dead.
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A damning report into the crash by the Republic of Namibia revealed the plane had taken off in extreme heat from a high-altitude airstrip despite exceeding the maximum weight limit onboard.
A commercial pilot claimed that the tourist's bags were so heavy that the tail of the plane was nearly touching the airstrip.
Investigators heard pilot Nicole, who had logged just 82 hours of flying light aircraft, took off while the Cessna weighed 75lbs over the 3800lb limit.
The charter operator, Scenic Air, told their pilot to offload some luggage and give them to the driver who ferried the family to the remote Navy airstrip, which light aircraft are allowed to use to bring in rich tourists to local safari lodges.
Several bags were taken off to lighten the load and were returned to the tourists' luxury river villa to be stored there.
But even after removing some of the suitcases, the weight of the family and their remaining bags still put the Cessna over the limit.
Accident investigators weighed all five bodies following postmortem before weighing the baggage that was onboard after it dried out.
The weight of the six-seater aircraft and the fuel on board also had to be taken into consideration.
The report concluded that the probable cause of the crash was the aircraft stalling after making a left turn too early, while just over 200 feet off the ground, and the aircraft exceeding the weight limit.
The plane's low speed as it climbed as well as the wing flaps being retracted while flying below the recommended speed to do so were also listed as contributing factors.
CRASH WAS 'INEVITABLE'
The report stated that the Cessna was hurtling downwards at 55 knots, resulting in the engine and propeller being ripped off the fuselage.
The 30-page official review makes it clear that its purpose is not to point blame or legal liability, but to promote aviation safety and to reduce the risk of accidents in the future.
But a highly experienced Cessna C210 pilot who had flown the aircraft for over a decade in both Namibia and South Africa said the accident was caused tragically due to pilot error.
He was backed up by other C210 pilots who read the just-released report and came to the same conclusion that the crash was completely avoidable in a non-defective aircraft.
The senior pilot said: "This was a low-hour pilot with a commercial licence held for less than a year being sent to an airstrip she was unfamiliar with and not been briefed fully about.
"Ballooning the aircraft in front of her clients on landing would have embarrassed her and caused stress and the passengers then having too much baggage only added to that.
"It is not good for pilot/customer relationships and it becomes a tough call to tell paying clients to offload some of their bags when you know it’s the last thing they want to do.
"Very sadly the plane took off overloaded and it was flying too slow to turn so early and with the flaps also having been retracted too soon the Cessna went into a tight stall.
"At that height, the stall was almost unrecoverable and tragically all five died but there is no doubt this was an accident that could have been avoided and mistakes were made.
HOLIDAY HORROR
"This was a very hot day indeed on a runway 3000ft above sea level which further degrades aircraft performance and the left turn after take-off was entered too slow and too heavy.
"When the Cessna was stalled the subsequent crash was very sadly inevitable" he said.
Despite Nicole having 320 hours of flying time on her licence, she only had 82 hours of experience on a light aircraft after qualifying as a commercial pilot in November 2021.
The report showed she was not given a proper runway briefing on an unfamiliar airstrip before her flight.
The Air Accident Report signed off by the Namibian Minister of Works & Transport Mr John Mutorwa MP who accepted the findings and recommendations to avoid future crashes.
Post-mortems recorded that the force of the aircraft impacting with the River Zambezi was "beyond human tolerance" and even with seat harnesses on, all five would have been fatally injured.
Thomas, Evelyn and their daughters had chartered the light aircraft to pick them up after three nights holidaying at the nearby luxury Chobe Water Villas overlooking the water.
They had been on a three-week dream holiday enjoying safaris across Southern Africa and were on the final leg of their trip flying back to Windhoek to join a flight home to Munich.
But their penultimate flight lasted less than a minute, with much of it in terror, as the young pilot stalled the aircraft and it went into a fatal dive down into the murky river below.
Pilot Nicole was remembered at a memorial service in Namibia a fortnight after the incident, attended by her dad Nico, mum Alicia and older sister Carmen who got married a month after the air crash.
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The family from Oudtshoorn, Klein Karoo, South Africa said at the time: "Nicole matriculated from school at the age of 17 and after that she began her dream to qualify as a pilot.
"Her life was flying and for the last four months of it she was privileged to be flying in her beloved Namibia. We miss Nicole every single day and think of her every single day."
