The CEO of the George-based International Flight Training Academy says its only natural that questions are asked about safety, pilot training and aviation in general, in the aftermath of a fatal plane crash.
Willem Marais was reacting to Saturday's accident in which 23 year-old Chinese National, Jerome Zhang was killed when his light Piper aircraft crashed into the perimeter fence on the western side of the PE airport.
The exact cause of the accident is still subject to a Civil Aviation Authority Investigation, but shortly before the accident, Zhang told Air Traffic Control that he was experiencing engine failure.
Zhang was doing his commercial pilots training through the Flight Training Academy at George and Marais says he took the decision to suspend operations until at least Tuesday, out of respect for the deceased.
"From our side, we can just take whatever lessons we can from this incident. We need to wait for the official findings from the Civil Aviation Authority. We can only give our full co-operation. We are going through a process of giving counselling to whoever requires it. We will continue with operations withing the next day or two" he said.
Marais says they're working through the processes of having Zhang's body repatriated to China.
"We are fortunate that we have a shareholder in China. This cadet was part of our University program. We made immediate contact with the University who informed his next of kin. We will definitely have family members visiting in South Africa, for the next 7 days there is a period of certain traditions the Chinese follow and we will respect that" he added.
