According to Judith Shomongula, Professor Alan Wilson, 62, and former airline pilot Neil Oakman, 63, died instantly when their aircraft nose-dived into the desert, as reported. She stated that three British nationals—John Lowe, Alan Martin Wilson, and Neil Thomas Oakman—came to Namibia on February 25, 2026 for research. They had spent more than a week at the remote Gobabeb Research Station in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, researching Namibia's national animal, the Oryx antelope, according to reports.
On Wednesday March 4, 2026 at about 17:00, Alan Wilson and Neil Oakman took off to look for collared antelope in the dunes of the Namib, as per accounts. Neil Oakman flew the Groppo-Trail light aircraft that crashed, which belonged to Alan Wilson, reports indicate. The aircraft stalled or lost power while in the air, though the exact cause has not been determined.
At about 19:00, researcher John Lowe started getting worried about his colleagues who were late getting back to the research centre and a search of the area was started, according to reports. John Lowe became concerned after the pair did not return to camp after two hours. He searched for them and found the wrecked plane at the end of the Gobabeb airstrip, which is 75 miles from the town of Walvis Bay, as stated.
Police were informed and the bodies transported to the Walvis Bay police mortuary, reports say. The flight is believed to have been the last as part of a study. Professor Wilson and John Lowe had worked together for more than a decade developing state-of-the-art tracking and motion collars for predators and antelopes, according to sources.
They were leading a project for the Royal Veterinary College tracking and studying Oryx antelopes in the Namib desert, as reported. Professor Wilson and John Lowe designed both tracking and motion collars, sources indicate. Professor Wilson featured in many BBC documentaries including Cat Watch: 2014 and The Secret Life of the Cat, and was a global expert in carnivores and their antelope prey, according to accounts.
He headed the LOCATE project in Africa which focused on studying how predators and their prey achieve their speed and maneuvering for both the kill and for their escape, as reported. Neil Oakman trained commercial pilots for Ryanair and was a Hurricane display pilot operating out of the former RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire, sources say. He was the chief pilot of the former Battle of Britain Hurricane VZ497, according to reports.
A close friend of Neil Oakman, Kathy Burnhill, said he was really enjoying his work in Namibia. Kathy Burnhill added that he will be missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him. Another friend, Ken Dirsch, described the pilot as an extremely competent pilot and called his loss tragic.
' The specific findings or data they were gathering in their research on Oryx antelopes remain unclear. Investigations into whether mechanical issues or weather conditions contributed to the crash are ongoing.