Impala Mark ZU-IMP Pilot Killed After Crash During Aerobatics Show in S.A

**kellyhound** · #1 03-25-2025, 05:35 PM

An aerobatics show in Saldanha, South Africa , did not end as expected. During the show on Saturday (22/3), the aircraft crashed in front of the audience. Pilot James O'Connell died.

Video shows the moment the aircraft, an Impala Mark 1, was performing a routine demonstration over spectators before falling and forming a huge fireball.

At the time of the fall, the person filming lowered the camera on his cell phone, but when he returned to record what was happening, it was possible to see a huge cloud of black smoke rising into the sky.

No one in the audience was hurt.

houseoftechno · #2 03-26-2025, 03:22 AM

Pilot had 36 years of flying including 25 years as a test pilot for experimental craft.

He attempted a low altitude slow roll and stalled in the middle of the inversion. The pic I grabbed from Kelly's last vid confirms he inverted with gear down and flaps down (pointing skyward during inversion). Both of those settings would have contributed to the stall.

durt · #3 03-26-2025, 09:42 PM

With the gear down, you could consider that a landing

akham · #4 03-29-2025, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by durt

With the gear down, you could consider that a landing

True, but the landing had some of the same issues as the CRJ landing in Toronto.

Not_real · #5 05-11-2025, 02:19 PM

A bit more altitude and he would have had it..

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