Diatryma
30th Nov 2009, 22:33
Cowra Community News (http://cowracommunitynews.com/viewnews.php?newsid=3799&id=47)
Pilot survives light plane crash
A SYDNEY-based pilot escaped serious injury when his two-seater plane crashed shortly after take-off at Bathurst airport yesterday (Wednesday).
The 45-year-old pilot had flown his Lancair Aircraft from Bankstown and was having a short stop-over in Bathurst before continuing to Mudgee.
But as he took off just before 3pm, the plane got metres off the ground before it came crashing back down.
Witnesses say debris from the badly damaged plane was spread over about 30m, but the pilot was not badly hurt.
Four young pilots from Brisbane, who do not wish to be named, were the first on the scene of the crash.
The men are completing a flying tour of New South Wales and landed at Bathurst just minutes earlier.
They say the Lancair’s engine had not sounded good before take-off, but the plane got airborne before suddenly banking left and crashing back to earth.
“As he took off he lost control of the plane for some reason,” says one of the pilots. “We ran out to the plane and the pilot was still inside,” a rescuer says. “We helped him out.
“He had some head injuries and there was a fair bit of blood but he able to move okay.”
The young men called 000 and say an ambulance was on the scene within seven minutes.
The pilots say the plane was a two-seater Lancair – “a very lightweight high-power output” aircraft.
The injured pilot was taken to Bathurst Hospital suffering lacerations, but in a stable condition.
The Australian Aviation Transport Safety Bureau has been informed.
The airport re-opened at 4.15pm.
Di
Pilot survives light plane crash
A SYDNEY-based pilot escaped serious injury when his two-seater plane crashed shortly after take-off at Bathurst airport yesterday (Wednesday).
The 45-year-old pilot had flown his Lancair Aircraft from Bankstown and was having a short stop-over in Bathurst before continuing to Mudgee.
But as he took off just before 3pm, the plane got metres off the ground before it came crashing back down.
Witnesses say debris from the badly damaged plane was spread over about 30m, but the pilot was not badly hurt.
Four young pilots from Brisbane, who do not wish to be named, were the first on the scene of the crash.
The men are completing a flying tour of New South Wales and landed at Bathurst just minutes earlier.
They say the Lancair’s engine had not sounded good before take-off, but the plane got airborne before suddenly banking left and crashing back to earth.
“As he took off he lost control of the plane for some reason,” says one of the pilots. “We ran out to the plane and the pilot was still inside,” a rescuer says. “We helped him out.
“He had some head injuries and there was a fair bit of blood but he able to move okay.”
The young men called 000 and say an ambulance was on the scene within seven minutes.
The pilots say the plane was a two-seater Lancair – “a very lightweight high-power output” aircraft.
The injured pilot was taken to Bathurst Hospital suffering lacerations, but in a stable condition.
The Australian Aviation Transport Safety Bureau has been informed.
The airport re-opened at 4.15pm.
Di