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New information indicates that the charter flight carrying South Africa's deputy president that made a forced landing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) may not have been fit to fly. A number of questions remain unanswered about why a plane was chartered in the first place, about why that particular plane was chartered and about the route that was flown. These questions either did not arise or were not fully answered when the subject was raised unexpectedly at a meeting of the Defence Portfolio Committee earlier this week. The SAAF's 21 Squadron which is tasked with flying VIPs has a number of executive jets at its disposal. At the top end is the Boeing Business Jet, the Presidential plane. Minister Sisulu told the Portfolio Committee this was not available to fly deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe to Libya because it was still being serviced after another flight. But the SAAF also has a Falcon 900 and two Falcon 50s which would have been at least as good, if not better than the charter plane that was eventually chosen. The charter plane that was chosen was a DC-9. This is an old aircraft with a reputation for being heavy on fuel and specifications that indicate it would probably need to refuel twice during the trip from Tripoli to Pretoria. The SAAF's Falcon jets all have better ranges than the DC-9. These facts alone raise important questions, but additional information makes the need for answers all the more pressing. Aviation insiders report modifications to the DC-9 to extend its range meant the flight was undertaken with no working fuel gauge. If this is correct, there is no way this flight should have taken place. If this is true it would explain the inability of the charter flight to fly anywhere else than Gbadolite in the DRC when landing at Bangui proved impossible. At the Portfolio Committee meeting Deputy Defence Minister Thabang Makwetla indicated that when landing at Bangui proved impossible the plane was routed to Gbadolite by Bangui air control. This is probably a mistake as the plane should have filed an alternative destination as part of its flight plan. This then raises questions as to why a flight plan was filed with Gbadolite as an alternative destination when it had no tower and no lights, eventually necessitating the plane to land using its own wing lights and at considerable risk. I have written to the Civil Aviation Authority to request the pertinent documents and will formally ask the CAA to launch a full investigation. The circumstances surrounding this flight seem very strange. It is clear the Deputy President of South Africa was put in harm's way. There is information showing he was sent on the wrong plane, on the wrong route. Those who planned this flight should be held accountable.