Reims-Cessna F406 accident at Johannesburg Airport
GJ Air Reims-Cessna F406 Caravan II · The Reims-Cessna F406 accident at Johannesburg Airport occurred on 3 November 2001
From O.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) to Eros Airport (ERS)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 3 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Reims-Cessna F406 Caravan II
- Aircraft type
- Reims Cessna F406
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- ZS-OIG
- Operator
- GJ Air
- Onboard fatalities
- 3
- Route
- From O.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)To Eros Airport (ERS)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
The Reims-Cessna F406 accident at Johannesburg Airport occurred on 3 November 2001. On that day a Reims-Cessna F406 of the airline GJ Air, which was to operate an international cargo flight from Johannesburg Airport to Eros Airport near the Namibian capital Windhoek, crashed shortly after take-off, killing all three people on board. The accident investigation identified several significant deviations from the operating regulations.
Accident sequence
The pilots received clearance to take off from runway 03R of Johannesburg Airport. The aircraft accelerated, rotated and lifted off. At around 03:20 and only 106 seconds after lifting off, the aircraft struck a swampy area 700 metres south of the runway threshold with its left wing pointing downwards. All three occupants of the aircraft were killed.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The investigation found that the Cessna was overloaded by about 700 kilograms, meaning the maximum take-off weight was exceeded by 16 percent. The cargo was not secured and there was neither a seat nor a restraint device in the aircraft for the passenger being carried. The aircraft's certificate of airworthiness was invalid at the time of the accident, as both engines had exceeded their maximum permissible operating time between overhauls by about 185 hours. The operator had this flight carried out even though it was fully aware that the existing Air Operator Certificate had expired on 31 October 2001.
According to the final report of the accident investigation, the accident resulted from a loss of control of the aircraft about its pitch and roll axes. The loss of control occurred approximately 35 to 40 seconds after lift-off. It was induced and aggravated by an overload of 16 percent and by the aircraft's operating limits regarding the centre of gravity being exceeded.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall einer Reims-Cessna F406 am Flughafen Johannesburg” (revision 216790588, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall einer Reims-Cessna F406 am Flughafen Johannesburg
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 216790588 · 2021-10-29 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q93990298
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall einer Reims-Cessna F406 am Flughafen Johannesburg" (page 11257130, revision 216790588), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): An aircraft of the airline GJ Air on an international cargo flight: an airline cargo flight. The article: "a Reims-Cessna F406 of the airline GJ Air, which was to operate an international cargo flight from Johannesburg Airport to Eros Airport"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.