The SA Red Cross Air Mercy Service (AMS) confirms that one of its emergency PC 12 fixed wing aircraft suffered a tyre burst on landing at George Airport on Friday, 06 November 2020. All the crew, pilots and medical personnel, on the flight are reported to be safe. The aircraft was dispatched for its normal air ambulance missions, crewed by two very experienced pilots. The tyre burst resulted in the aircraft veering off the runway, the incident resulted in George Airport being closed while the matter was being resolved.
“The AMS immediately started communication with the airport authority and engineers at George Airport in an attempt to get the aircraft off the runway as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in their attempt as factors such as the soft surface next to the runway from the rain also contributed towards difficulty in the recovery of the aircraft. AMS requested permission to ATC & ACSA to dispatch a back-up aircraft from Cape Town to land and resolve the matter. Once permission was granted by George Airport, a back-up aircraft with AMS engineers and equipment on board was immediately dispatched and resolved the matter within 30minutes of arrival at George Airport, allowing operations for both the operator and the Airport to return to normal” said AMS CEO, Dr Philip Erasmus.
“The matter is currently being investigated, and together with the George Airport authority and local aircraft engineering support, we shall institute further measures and equipment that can resolve similar incidents rapidly, should they occur in future. We apologise for the inconvenience to other operators and the interruption of the Airport operations. We assure everyone of our commitment to strive for excellence with our very experienced pilots and crew to continue our mandate to provide lifesaving emergency aero-medical services to those in need.” Dr. Philip Erasmus concluded.
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Issued by:
Venessa Horn
Public Relations Officer
Cell: 078 172 4751
