SA pilots supporting teen adventurers crash in Tanzania

Posted on 5 August 2019

Two South African pilots who were flying from Tanzania to Malawi died when their plane crashed in Tanzania on Saturday 3 August. The small four-seater plane that they were flying crashed soon after take-off from Tabora Airport in western Tanzania.

Pilots Des Werner and Werner Froneman were on a journey to support a group of South African teenagers that had built a four-seater Sling aircraft and flown it from Cape Town to Cairo.

According to Eye Witness News, Des Werner’s 17 year-old daughter ‘was the founder of the U Dream Global project that saw 20 teenagers build the four-seater Sling in 10 days’.

Together, Werner and Froneman formed an adult team to chaperone the teen pilots.

Speaking about the pilots, a spokesperson for U Dream Global, Simon Manda said,  ‘Unfortunately, their plane didn’t get to Cairo, it went to Addis Ababa and it was grounded. The teenagers then continued from Addis Ababa all the way to Cairo by themselves.’

According to Manda the teen pilots then flew to Malawi and were waiting for the adult team to join them from Tanzania.

‘One of the support planes, which was piloted by Des Werner and Froneman, had an accident and unfortunately they lost their lives.’

Featured image: Flikr/ Flowcomm




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