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| Subject: | Landing on golf course in South Africa |
--> Rocket-List message posted by: "nico css" <nico@cybersuperstore.com>
Plane nearly beheads golfers
Oct 26 2005 10:43:58:777PM
Jackie Pienaar and Malani Venter
The retired MD of the Phalaborwa Mining Company and his fiancee were nearly beheaded
by a plane making an emergency landing at the upmarket De Zalze wine estate
golf course.
Stellenbosch - The retired managing director and chairperson of the Phalaborwa
Mining Company and his fiancee nearly died after the wing of a Harvard plane,
whose pilot had to make an emergency landing, hit their golf cart on the upmarket
De Zalze wine estate's golf couse.
Alfred Leroy, 79, probably saved his own and Mary-Ann Brewster, 54, his fiancee's
life when he stepped on the accellerator from the passenger seat after Brewster
had frozen up behind the wheel.
When Leroy stepped on the accellerator, the golf cart moved slightly out of the
way. But one of the wings nevertheless took off the roof, and Leroy and Brewster
fell out.
The unconscious Leroy was taken to the Stellenbosch MediClinic, where he received
20 stitches to a wound to his head.
'Very unfortunate'
Brewster, who runs a health shop in Phalaborwa, suffered severe bruising. She was
discharged from hospital on Wednesday afternoon, said Nelia Vivier, a spokesperson
for the hospital.
Kevin Bell, a commercial pilot and probably the most experienced Harvard pilot
in the country was at the controls of the plane.
"I hate to think what might have happened if he was not at the controls," said
Space du Preez, chairperson of the Stellenbosch Flight Club. "He must have used
all his experience to prevent a tragedy."
Du Preez described the event as "very, very unfortunate". "I'm talking to the De
Zalze estate and we will support the victims in any way we can."
A very shocked Brewster, who arrived in the country from Britain in 1972, said
on Wednesday that she and Leroy were engaged and that they were staying at De
Zalze for their "second honeymoon".
Leroy is an American who settled in South Africa in 1976 and a keen golf player.
Brewster was driving the golf cart when she noticed the plane circling and coming
in low to land. About 100m away, the plane landed, but suddenly turned and
headed straight for them. "I turned into stone from shock," she said.
"Al(fred) stepped on the accellerator and we moved away slightly. The wing took
of the whole roof. Blood was flowing from Al's head. If we had not moved away,
we would have been beheaded."
Leroy said they teed off at the 10th hole and had progressed to the 17th. They
had reached his ball for the second shot when they looked back by chance. The
plane appeared from behind the tree tops and lost altitude.
The next moment it landed on the fairway about 100m away. "There was very little
space between the sand pit and the trees," he said. "The plane couldn't stop
quickly enough and took off the top part of the cart."
Despite their narrow escape, Leroy said they still wanted to see a few more sights
before they returned home on Saturday.
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