A top Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) officer has been discharged over his role in an aircraft accident that killed two experienced pilots on 02 February this year.
The AFZ SF260 trainer aircraft flew into electric lines as it struggled to gain height shortly after take-off near Mlezu College in Kwekwe.
Group Captain Bensen Munyanduki, 50, and Wing Commander Daniel Manyenga, 37, died in the accident.
Air Commodore Marcelino Jakuvos Jaya, the Base Commander of the former Thornhill Air Base in Gweru, now Josiah Tungamirai Air Force Base, has left the Air Force in disgrace over the accident.
Jaya reportedly gave the instruction to the two pilots to fly the stricken aircraft. <a href="https://www.zimlive.com/top-air-force-chief-sacked-over-doomed-flight-that-killed-2-pilots/">ZimLive</a> quoted a military source as saying:
<blockquote>
A tribunal found that after the aircraft first crash-landed, Air Commodore Jaya was given specific instructions by AFZ Commander Air Marshal Elson Moyo to put the aircraft on a low-bed truck and take it to the air base.
Instead, Jaya ignored a lawful instruction and decided to send our best two pilots on a doomed mission to fly an aircraft that had not been properly assessed by engineers after the earlier incident when it crash-landed.
The aircraft failed to pick up height leading to the tragic deaths of the two pilots.
</blockquote>
ZimLive reported that the SF260 first flew on a training mission to Zvishavane with different pilots.
When the pilots were returning to Josiah Tungamirai Air Force Base, they flew into bad weather and were forced to crash-land the aircraft on a dusty road.
AFZ then sent a recovery mission and the two pilots, who had no serious injuries, were transported to the hospital for assessment.
According to ZimLive’s military sources, Air Commodore Jaya ignored instructions from senior officers to recover the aircraft with a truck.
He, instead, instructed Munyanduki and Manyenga to fly the aircraft back to base.
The plane tragically crashed shortly after take-off, robbing the Air Force of two of its experienced pilots.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

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Princess Nomqhele Ncube, a 23-year-old Zimbabwean female pilot who hails from eMhlabeni in Tsholotsho under Chief Tategulu, recently graduated with an Integrated Airline Transport Pilot Licence (IATPL) Program from 43 Air School in South Africa. 
Princess is reportedly the first female pilot from the Matebeleland region. <a href="https://twitter.com/communitypodium/status/1379019169333673987">See her picture below.</a>

Meet A 23-Year-Old Zimbabwean Female Pilot

A Zimbabwean-born teenager based in Ethiopia has made history by becoming the youngest pilot in the country after he was awarded a commercial pilot licence at the age of 19.
Simbarashe Machigere was awarded the licence on May 5, 2019, by the East African Aviation School based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after flying solo at 29 hours of training.
Speaking to The Herald on Tuesday, Machigere said:
<blockquote>Training for a commercial pilot license was not an easy walk in the park. You needed to apply yourself intellectually, emotionally and physically. You really required undivided attention.
But I praise the Lord and also thank him for making me a Zimbabwean.
Being the youngest trainee in the East African Aviation School in Ethiopia, I have made history by flying solo at 29 hours of training. I couldn’t believe it but I made.</blockquote>
The youngster revealed that he intends to return home from the East African country and join a viable airline.
Simbarashe was born on July 3, 1999, in Bindura to Mr Saston Mapfaka Machigere, who is Minister-Counsellor at the Zimbabwean Embassy in Addis Ababa.
He did his primary education at Shashi Primary School and proceeded to do his High School at Greek Community School in Ethiopia.
<h4>More: <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/teenage-pilot-shatters-aviation-record/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Herald</a></h4>

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