A mountain guide pulled off a spectacular rescue when he pulled a husband and wife from a plane which was dangling from a zip wire.
The Bat Hawk aircraft was left swaying in the wind after it crashed into the metal cable in South Africa and got caught by its propeller.
Pilot Peter and his wife Mary, who were both in their 60s and flying on their first anti-rhino poaching patrol, were left lying on their backs 330 feet above the rocky wilderness.
But rescuer Rob Thomas, 51, climbed down the zip wire on his own and pulled the pair out alive after realising a rescue from above would have dislodged the aircraft and sent them plunging to their deaths.
A mountain guide pulled off one of the most incredible rescues of all time when he pulled a husband and wife from a plane which had crashed into a zip wire
The Bat Hawk aircraft was left swaying in the wind after it crashed into the metal cable in South Africa and got caught by its propeller
The theme park cable, used to propel people at 100mph down a thrill seeking ride at the Sun City Resort near Johannesburg, lodged on a bolt underneath the plane's propeller.
Police launched an operation with the game reserve to rescue the terrified couple after their aircraft was left swinging in the wind.
Rescuer Mr Thomas flew overhead by police chopper and realised a rescue from above would be impossible as the wash from the rotors would dislodge the aircraft.
Amid searing temperatures he climbed to the cockpit, forced the door open and attached the couple to a harness to help them out alive.
He said: 'I volunteered as the Dope on a Rope to try and get them out and spoke to Peter on the radio and told him that I was coming down and just to not panic and stay totally still.
'I had no idea why the plane had not fallen to the ground but when I got there I saw that by a remarkable twist of luck the cable had been hooked under a large nut beneath the propeller.
'I was terrified the movements I was making may dislodge the aircraft because the wind had got up and I was being buffeted about so I just had to wait for the wind to die down to carry on.
'I got the door to the cockpit open and the pilot was nearest me with his wife on the far side and they both had their safety harnesses on and were lying on their backs in rocket launch position.
'I think it is fair to say they were terrified as they has spent many many hours facing upwards as their plane was buffeted by the winds wondering if the next gust could be their very last one.
'It was also very hot with the temperature outside being in the high 30 degrees and they were inside a cockpit and were suffering from dehydration and were obviously very distressed.
The pilot of the plane and his spotter, both in their 60s, were on their first ever flight carrying out an anti-rhino poaching patrol for a game reserve in South Africa when they slammed into the steel cable
'The pilot told me to rescue his wife first but I told him that was too dangerous as he was nearest me and that I could not get to her without getting him out first and that was the way forward.
'The aircraft was in an extremely precarious positon and I told them to unlock their seatbelts and trust me and passed the husband an extraction harness and attached it to a trolley on the zip wire.
'I told him to get out and join me outside the aircraft.
'I then passed the wife an extraction harness and told her to do the same and attached her to the trolley as well and with the three of us attached got the guys at the top to pull us back upwards.
'I was very concerned that if the plane fell now that with over 500kg's plane weight suddenly not being on the cable we would be pinged all over the place and that would not be too pleasant.
'We were an extremely heavy load to pull up a cable so when I felt we were far enough away for the plane to be safe I lowered a rope and told the husband to prepare himself to be lowered.
'I would guess it was about 80m down at that point in high winds.
'Unfortunately we were over a very thorny bush but he had his flight gear on so managed to cope and then I lowered his wife and fortunately a gust of wind blew her away from thorny bush.
'I then abseiled down and with the three of us safely down we began to descend the slope but Mary had lost her shoes and the ground was very unkind to her so the police chopper came down.
'It lowered a harness for Mary but with the wind becoming even stronger and a forecast of a thunderstorm we felt the plane could drop any moment and could land on top of the chopper.
'We decided that Peter and I would walk down and we met Mary at the ambulances below.
'It turned out that this couple had volunteered to do anti-poaching duties with the Pilanesberg National Park to protect their rhinos and this was their very first flight in this actual area.
The plane got caught on the zip wire while pilot Peter and his wife Mary were on their first anti-rhino poaching expedition
Rescuer Mr Thomas flew overhead by police chopper and realised a rescue from above would be impossible
'I presumed they were unaware of the Sun City zip wire that comes down from the mountain.
'They had an incredibly lucky escape and after they were safely down the zip wire was lowered allowing the aircraft to be retrieved and it looks as if not too much damage has been done.
'We could not risk lowering the cable with them in the plane in case it dislodged the plane.
'I had a very sleepless night last night because I kept rerunning the fear of my movements dislodging the plane and sending Peter and Mary falling to certain death in my head.
'It was a very unconventional rescue but it worked out very well and I hope that when Peter and Mary get over their shock that they will get back up in the air and help the rhinos' he said.
The initial call was made from the pilot to air traffic control at 8.30am on Friday and Rob and his team of four were scrambled and flown from Johannesburg by chopper to Sun City near Rustenburg.
An official confirmed both patients had escaped injury but they were taken to a nearby private hospital for further assessment and both were believed to be in shock.
A spokesman for the Pilanseberg National Park said: 'Our Bat Hawk named Mafolodi flew into the Sun City zip line and the pilot Peter and his wife Mary were rescued and were not injured.
'They were just very very scared. Now they are safe we will rescue Mofalodi'he said.
The Bat Hawk is a high wing stealth aircraft used by many game reserves for anti-poaching patrols as it is extremely quiet and can fly very slowly and take off and land in just 30m.
The ZIP2000 ride at the entertainment resort of Sun City is one of the highest and fastest in the world and sends thrill seekers head first down a 1.25 mile wire at speeds of up to 100mph.
In 2011 business tycoon Arie Neven, 52, died instantly when he flew his Bell Jet Ranger 206 into the same zip wire on his way to pick up friends from a farm on the outskirts of Sun City.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/29/husband-and-wife-rescued-in-south-africa-after-plane-crashes-into-zip-wire/
Main photo article A mountain guide pulled off a spectacular rescue when he pulled a husband and wife from a plane which was dangling from a zip wire.
The Bat Hawk aircraft was left swaying in the wind after it crashed into the metal cable in South Africa and got caught by its propeller.
Pilot Peter and his wife ...
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Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2018/09/29/11/4627426-6221553-A_mountain_guide_pulled_off_one_of_the_most_incredible_rescues_o-m-10_1538216070420.jpg
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