2011 South Africa Piaggio Albatross crash

On 14 August 2011, a pair of privately owned Piaggio P.166 Albatross aircraft crashed into the Wolkberg mountains in the Limpopo province of South Africa, killing all 13 people on board both planes. The aircraft had departed minutes earlier from Tzaneen, and were flying in formation towards Johannesburg when they struck the mountain in cloud.

The subsequent investigation found no evidence of any technical problem with the aircraft and cited adverse weather and poor flight planning as factors in the accident.

History of the flight

The two Albatross aircraft had participated the previous day in the Tzaneen Air Show, and in the morning of 14 August at around 10:20 local time, they took off from Tzaneen Airfield to return to Rand Airport in Johannesburg. Each aircraft had one pilot on board; one aircraft had five passengers and the other one six. The pair set off on a southerly heading flying in formation.

After failing to arrive at Johannesburg, at 13:30 the aircraft were reported missing, and a search and rescue operation was launched. No distress call was received by air traffic control or other aircraft. Hampered by adverse weather and by the fact that no flight plan had been filed by either pilot, search teams were able to locate the wreckage of the aircraft only two days later.

Both aircraft had collided with a north-facing, near-vertical escarpment on the slopes of Mamotswiri Peak, in the Wolkberg mountain range, and were completely destroyed by the impact and subsequent fire. The two wreckages were found 75 m apart at the foot of the cliff, at an altitude of 5030 ft, around 300 ft below the top of the ridge. There were no survivors.

On the day of the accident, a witness in the Lekgalameetse Valley reported seeing both aircraft overflying the valley before disappearing into low clouds. A loud bang was heard shortly after.