The exact extent of the damage caused to the South African Air Force (SAAF) transport aircraft that was involved in the hard landing incident near Bloemfontein last week has yet to be determined.
The CASA 212-300 was landing at the Tempe Airfield on January 17 when it appeared to land heavily on its nose wheel and thereafter ran off the runway. The aircraft was participating in a scheduled para-trooping exercise and none of the five crew members on board the aircraft were injured.
An unidentified poster on an aviation website frequented by professional and military pilots has stated that it was possible that the aircraft could be written-off.
“There is a large crack in the starboard wing and damage to the starboard flap in addition to the obvious damage in the nose area,” the poster commented.
It was also noted that the two engines had already been removed.
Lt Col Ronald Maseko, spokesperson for the SAAF, told defenceWeb that the investigation team had not yet released their preliminary report and thus it was too soon to speculate on the fate of the aircraft.
The South African Air Force currently operates three other CASA 212 aircraft.
Two C-47TP Dakota transport aircraft have been written-off in the last three months. On December 5 last year, eleven people died when their C-47TP crashed in bad weather in the Drakensberg mountains. A month prior, on November 7, a C-47TP Dakota was involved in a landing accident at Mthatha Airport, when it bounced on landing and left the runway.
