SA Airlink has until Friday to provide Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele with proof that it is fit to continue operating following five serious accidents involving the airline in recent months. SA Airlink flight SA8625, carrying 30 passengers, overshot the runway at George airport, crashing through a fence and coming to an abrupt halt in a ditch running alongside a road.
Last month Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was reportedly aboard an SA Airlink flight that was forced to return to OR Tambo International Airport due to "a technical fault".
Ndebele has also requested voice recordings from the cockpit of an Airlink plane involved in a crash in Durban two months ago, in which pilot Allister Freeman was fatally injured.
On September 24, Freeman was forced to make a landing on a school sports field in Merebank, south of the city, when the aircraft he was piloting lost power shortly after take off. Three others were injured.
After the crash in George on Monday, Ndebele said there was "no reason to panic", but he was singing from a different song sheet after yesterday's meeting with the CAA.
The meeting ended late yesterday evening, with the transport ministry calling on the CAA to urgently supply detailed information about Airlink's operations "by close of business on Friday. in order to enable the minister to make a decision on the grounding".
Ndebele has also requested voice recordings from the cockpit of an Airlink plane involved in a crash in Durban two months ago, in which pilot Allister Freeman was fatally injured.
On September 24, Freeman was forced to make a landing on a school sports field in Merebank, south of the city, when the aircraft he was piloting lost power shortly after take off. Three others were injured.
After the crash in George on Monday, Ndebele said there was "no reason to panic", but he was singing from a different song sheet after yesterday's meeting with the CAA.
The meeting ended late yesterday evening, with the transport ministry calling on the CAA to urgently supply detailed information about Airlink's operations "by close of business on Friday. in order to enable the minister to make a decision on the grounding".
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