Human error partly responsible for Cronje's death

A report by civil aviation authorities has concluded that human error and bad weather led to the plane crash which killed Hansie Cronje in June 2002.

The report said that the pilot of the plane, a Hawker Siddeley, had to execute an instrument-guided approach to land at the airport in George due to overcast skies. The Civil Aviation Authority report, quoted by the SAPA news agency said, "The report indicates the probable causes of the accident to be human-factor related, with weather and mechanical as well as technological factors contributing."

"They flew the aircraft into a valley and crashed into the side of the mountains," the report said and added that the airport's instrument landing system appeared only to have been "intermittently operational" at the time. "The pilots and passenger suffered multiple injuries during the impact. The accident was considered as unsurvivable."

Cronje died along with the two pilots when the cargo plane he was travelling in crashed shortly before landing at George airport. He took the option of travelling for free on AirQuarius, with whom he had an arrangement, rather than take up an offer from his employers to take a commercial flight back to George.

Cronje was banned for life from cricket by the United Cricket Board of South Africa in 2000, a decision which was later endorsed by the ICC, after his involvement in the match-fixing scandal was supported by concrete evidence.