The initial news was that Steven has gone down in the desert near Luderitz and the as the time dragged on for the following hours more and more news came through from rescue people and hospitals etc. and all these were relayed to us via sms's from Johan Jr.
Aircraft found. wreck looks ok. did not burn or break up. - and later - Steven and all pax alive but hurt and on way to hospital in Luderitz. Then again a few hours later - not good Steven's back broken and in serious condition.
At this stage thing are not looking great. The forecast medical costs for Steven is around R700 000. and he is going to need some serious operations on his back. Crause Steyl owner of Air Ambulance has helped out and arranged for Steven to be flown to Cape Town where he arrived this morning and hopefully he will in time regain full health.
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So much for the bad and ugly side, we are thankful that we are all ok and Louis has done especially well this month by flying some 30 hours as "boy pilot" or autopilot on the Harare based Air Ambulance and he completed another part of his training yesterday and last night with his boss Captain Russell O'Gorman in the Jetstream. and he now is a qualified Co-Pilot.
With Steven out of the equation Jr has logged nearly 80 hours on the Beech 1900 this month and he is also looking at an offer from Bay Air to be the Safety Officer for the company.
Juanita is on her first flight of the year and left for Kigali yesterday and I just received an sms from her to say she is safely in Addis where she will be staying in a hotel where they were asked to bring their own sheets and towels - Africa is not for sissies!! Her passengers is attending the AU summit and most probably staying in the Addis Hilton regarded by most well travelled people as Africa's best hotel.
