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43 Air School assists with dramatic sea rescue

Sue Maclennan

AERIAL VIEW: In the first picture, the 43 Air School aircraft has located the sinking boat. In the second photo, the MSC cargo ship has been guided to the spot by the circling aircraft, along with GPS coordinates and verbal instructions. The boat’s six occupants were saved. Pictures: SUPPLIED

An instructor from 43 Air School has been praised for his role in rescuing six people from a sinking inflatable boat (rubber duck) about 7km from the nearest mainland shore. The NSRI responded and a cargo ship, the closest vessel at the time, rescued the boat’s passengers from the water.
43 Air School CEO Attie Niemann said an aircraft from the school was out on a training flight on Monday when they received a call to assist the NSRI in a search for a boat that was sinking south of Bird Island in Algoa Bay.
“The ‘search and a rescue’ on the aviation monitoring network alerted us to look for the boat in the Bird Island area,” Niemann said. “Our aircraft who had an instructor on board  jumped to assist and after a while of searching they managed to locate the boat carrying six persons, approximately 8 nautical miles [about 14km] south of Bird Island.”
The 43 Air School plane circled over the vessel and gave a position report to the NSRI.
“Our plane manage to get the attention of a MSC cargo ship that was also searching for them: our plane led them to the vessel which recovered the six persons on the sinking vessel.”
The 43 Air School aircraft was ZS- ISD – a Piper Seneca with call sign PIU376. The instructor was Captain Muhluri Rengane.
“Captain Muhluri will receive a Good Show award from 43 Air School for the good work and calm manner in which he conducted the search. Through his actions, he helped avert this potentially tragic event,” Niemann said.
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