Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Makhanda’s R6 million schools boost
  • Important tax-saving opportunities come and go
  • Two concerts on the cards for Makhanda
  • Queer people and sex workers are badly treated in clinics, new survey finds
  • Rhodes University welcomes 1600 first-year students
  • The more you read, the better you get
  • The largest-ever cohort for GADRA Matric School
  • Eskom Power Alert 1
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»Uncategorized»G’town pilots arrested in Namibia
Uncategorized

G’town pilots arrested in Namibia

Kayla RouxBy Kayla RouxMay 7, 2013No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Four Grahamstown pilots arrested in Ondangwa, Namibia this weekend because of a paperwork problem have been released on fines of R2 400 per pilot, but have yet to be cleared for return to SA.

Four Grahamstown pilots arrested in Ondangwa, Namibia this weekend because of a paperwork problem have been released on fines of R2 400 per pilot, but have yet to be cleared for return to SA.

Larry and Sharon McGillewie, Ron and Loraine Weissenberg, Matthys Bosch and JP Oehlerking from Grahamstown are amongst a group of 22 people travelling through Namibia on 12 microlight planes when they were stopped and their pilots were arrested.

Larry McGillewie, who organised the trip, told Namibian newspaper Die Republikein a large group of police officers and CAA officials awaited them upon landing in Ondangwa around 8pm on Saturday night. Their aircraft were also seized.

Die Republikein journalist Ronelle Rademeyer told Grocott's Mail the pilots have each paid an admission of guilt fine, but are still waiting to receive the paperwork they have to finalise in order to leave.

Rademeyer says the story is making headlines across Namibia. "As far as I know, this is a first for us," she said. "At least it is the first case involving 12 airplanes."

They were released from jail on Sunday morning, but they are still unsure of when their microlight planes would be returned and when they could come back home.

While the Namibian Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) issued them with documents authorising them to fly, the group did not have what is known an 'overflight' document.

'The Gaggle', as the small group of aviators called themselves, were mainly from the Eastern Cape. They were on a 2 week trip around Africa in several NTCA aircrafts in support of the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) to raise awareness around cancer.

"The news we just got was initially very sketchy via SMS from one of the pilots arrested, whose second SMS just stated that he couldn't communicate anymore," read an anonymous post on the aviation chat forum www.avcom.co.za.

"If it wasn't for an urgent court order the same night, the group would have been detained until their court appearance [Monday] morning," reported Die Republikein.

Those arrested were Peter Bain, Colin Dettmann, Mike Spearpoint and JP du Preez of Port Elizabeth; Piet Swanepoel of Addo; East Londoners Patrick Hill, Bryan Erasmus and Darren Hanner; McGillewie, Weissenberg, Matthys Bosch and JP Oehlerking of Grahamstown.

Previous ArticleG’town pilots arrested in Namibia
Next Article TopTV: Let adults keep their dirty little secrets
Kayla Roux

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.