Two Qantas pilots critically injured in a fatal vintage plane crash in South Africa last week remain in induced comas in a Johannesburg hospital.
Training captain Douglas Haywood and recently retired captain Ross Kelly, both from NSW, were among 19 people aboard the 64-year-old aircraft that crashed shortly after take-off in Pretoria on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).
Local tourism operator Rovos Rail, which owned the ill-fated Convair 340, said both men were in stable conditions in hospital.
"The prognosis is optimistic," it said in a Facebook post on Monday.
Mr Kelly's wife Lyndal was also aboard the stricken flight and was in a stable condition last week.
The pilots' flight engineer Chris Barnard and a person on the ground were killed when the plane experienced engine failure and crashed into a factory.
The Australian pilots, who both had three decades of experience at Qantas, had taken the recently restored vintage plane on a scenic flight ahead of a multi-stop journey to a Dutch museum.
In 2016, they made a similar journey when successfully flying a sister aircraft Convair 340 from Pretoria to NSW's Historical Aviation Restoration Society.
The plane crashed near Kameeldrift, north of Pretoria, South Africa. Source: AAP
The pilots are both avid members of HARS and various vintage aircraft organisations.
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