An adventure flight by paramotor along South Africa´s Wild Coast ended tragically for one of a group of six pilots when he was killed on landing in a deserted area near Cannon Rocks.

Niel Calitz, accompanied by amongst others his two brothers Martin and Callie, were on the first leg of their flight from Port Elizabeth to Durban. The group had the backup of several 4×4 vehicles and microlights ferrying fuel, but were not flying in formation at this time.

Neil failed to show up where the others had landed, or to report in. The area has no cell phone coverage, and the rest of the group knew he had had radio problems, and searched for him, assuming he had landed in dunes.

The search was unsuccessful and was continued the next day by air before the group decided to call in help from the local authorities. At this stage, there was no reason to suspect that Niel had not survived the
landing, as they group assumed he had tried walking out from his position and that he would be hampered by the high jungle.

A massive search was launched the next morning which continued for 12 days, yielded no sign of him. The search involved helicopter and fixed wing aircraft, quads and off-road bikes, horses and boats sweeping the beaches for flotsam.

Finally, a group of off-road motorcyclists found prop splinters and a reserve handle on a dune, and on searching the area the next day, Neil was found face down and buried under sand on the other side of the dune. He was likely dragged there by the wind some time after his landing.

His brothers have thanked the hundreds of volunteers and kind donations by clubs, manufacturers and individuals in South Africa, Europe and the UK to fund the rescue operation.

Report by Jaco Wolmarans

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 11:31 am and is filed under News.