Pilot killed in plane crash

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ONE of Zimbabwe’s most experienced pilots, Rob Tasker, died in a plane crash in Botswana at the weekend.

ONE of Zimbabwe’s most experienced pilots, Rob Tasker, died in a plane crash in Botswana at the weekend.

Report by Blondie Ndebele

Details of the accident are still sketchy, although reports indicate that Tasker was flying with Lindy Brooks when their plane crashed on Saturday and they both died on the spot.

The two were reportedly flying a Batair Fala-based Bandeirante light freighter ZS-NVB 110 plane.

While reports of the accident were still sketchy, someone who claimed to be Tasker’s son confirmed the deaths on an aviation website forum. “My father Rob Tasker and Lindy Brooks were both killed in the accident,” the son posted. “They were the only two on board.

“They were approaching Francistown for a technical stop for fuel.” He said they had overshot the runway due to fog.

“From what I have been told, they overshot their approach due to fog on the runway, and were cleared for an approach from the other side,” he posted.

According to FlyAfrica, an aviation website, the aircraft regularly flew from Lanseria in South Africa, to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ndola, in Zambia and to Mozambique’s Pemba.

Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport manager Passmore Dewa confirmed the incident, but said he did not have the finer details of how it happened.

“We heard there was a plane crush just before Francistown that killed two people but we have not yet received information about what transpired,” he said.