Durban - People in aviation circles and the game industry have been rocked by the death of a highly experienced pilot and game capturer, who died after his helicopter crashed in the Eastern Cape reports SA's BEELD.

Colleagues had tried in vain to reach Gordon de Beer, 38, of Hluhluwe on Sunday morning, as they waited for him at the landing strip at Kariega Game Reserve near Kenton-on-Sea.

De Beer's Robinson R22 had crashed about 8km away while he was flying from Grahamstown to the landing strip in the reserve, said police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender.

She said a neighbour from Kariega phoned the police at about 10:30 to report a veld fire. When the police officials and a ranger arrived at the clearing surrounded by thorn trees, they found the burnt-out wreck of the helicopter.

"My telephone has not stopped ringing over the past 24 hours," said Grant Tracy, a game capturer, whose staff would have worked with De Beer at Kariega on Monday.

De Beer would have chased game such as impala, zebra, wildebeest and eland for the people on the ground, who would then catch the animals and move them to another part of the reserve.

"It would have been just another day's work," said Tracy.

Experienced

De Beer, who recently started his own game farm at Hluhluwe, had been flying since he finished school at 18.

According to his brother-in-law, Derek van Zyl, De Beer initially flew fixed-winged aircraft before he also trained as a pilot of several kinds of helicopter.

De Beer was very experienced, with thousands of flying hours and years of experience in game catching, said Van Zyl. He was a qualified instructor as well, and in the summer months when there was no game to capture, he did charter flights and took harbour pilots to ships.

"Game capturing is dangerous work, because you fly right above the treetops," said Van Zyl. "But Gordon was not busy catching game when it happened. I can't believe that Gordon had made a mistake.

"It was a terrible shock for all of us," said Van Zyl.

He described his brother-in-law as a very popular man and wonderful father to his two children, Kiara, 3, and Teva, 1.

He is also survived by his wife, Michelle, 36, parents, brother and sister.

The Civil Aviation Authority is investigating the cause of the accident.

By Special correspondent