Page:Report of the Board of Inquiry into the Helderberg air disaster.djvu/20

Rh pilot inadvertently transmitted instructions, apparently to the senior flight engineer, in an excited tone of voice. Most of the phrases are unintelligible. At 00:02:43 the pilot gave a distance report as 65 nautical miles. This was understood by the approach controller to be the distance to the Airport. In fact it was the distance to the next way-point, Xagal. The distance to the Airport at that point was approximately 145 nautical miles. At 00:02:50 the approach controller recleared the flight to FL 50 and at 00:03:00 gave information on the actual weather conditions at Plaisance Airport, which the pilot acknowledged. When the approach controller asked the pilot at 00:03:43 which runway he intended to use he replied one three but was corrected when the controller asked him to confirm one four. This is no reflection on the pilot for what was one three had recently been changed to one four in conformity with a change of magnetic variation. At 00:03:56 the controller cleared the flight for a direct approach to the Flic-en-Flac (FF) non-directional beacon and requested the pilot to report on approaching FL 50. At 00:04:02 the pilot said: "Kay". From 00:08:00 to 00:30:00 the approach controller called the aircraft repeatedly but there was no reply.

The aeroplane crashed into the Indian Ocean at a position determined to be about 19°10′ S and 59°38′ E. The accident occurred at night, in darkness, at about