Pilot dies fighting Cape Town fires

[dualmeister]

CAPE TOWN – A helicopter assisting in efforts to extinguish a blaze in Cape Point in the Western Cape has crashed.

ER 24 has confirmed the pilot has not survived.

Firefighters have been containing a blaze and its flare-ups in the area ever since thunderstorms ignited vegetation on Wednesday.

Fire and Rescue’s Liesl Moodie has confirmed a Working on Fires helicopter fell this afternoon.

Authorities have reported to the scene.

EWN
http://m.ewn.co.za/2015/03/08/Water-bombing-helicopter-has-crashed

 

[satanboy]

bummer

 

[Hamish McPanji]

 

[Creag]

Sad news ... rest in peace. Condolences to family and friends

 

[flarkit]

RIP

 

[LazyLion]

Should be awarded some type of service medal from his country.

 

[Arthur]

Pilot's name released yet?

 

[dualmeister]

Pilot's name released yet?

CAPE TOWN - One of the country's top helicopter rescue pilots has died while on duty fighting fires at Cape Point in the Western Cape.

The pilot - who has been identified as Bees Marais - was forced into a hard landing at Cape Point earlier on Sunday.

From eNCA
http://www.enca.com/south-africa/firefighting-helicopter-makes-forced-landing-cape-point

 

[kianm]

Shame RIP . He is a hero. I thought they were done with that blaze

 

[Arthur]

Thanks. May he RIP.

Apparently the bucket hit the tail rotor and he spun into a crash.

 

[vaakseun]

Here's a video of him in the helicopter while battling the fires.

http://ewn.co.za/Media/2015/03/02/pilots-view-of-fire

 

[Hemi300c]

RIP and respect.

 

[marine1]

Should be awarded some type of service medal from his country.

I assume Cape Town will but I wont hold my breath for national gvt

 

[marine1]

Here's a video of him in the helicopter while battling the fires.

http://ewn.co.za/Media/2015/03/02/pilots-view-of-fire

Huey chopper, wonder what happened

 

[zizo911]

Rip good sir...

 

[marine1]

I remember I did the "combat mission" in one in Cape Town some years back, what a chopper.

 

[Gordon_R]

Another one down: https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/...opter-goes-down-while-fighting-blaze-20181023

A Working on Fire (WoF) helicopter pilot was killed when his chopper went down on Tuesday over Riversdale, while he was helping to fight a blaze, WoF spokesperson Linton Rensburg said.

"It is confirmed that the helicopter went down near the fire at approximately 09:45 on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, while conducting firefighting operations," the organisation said.