From the Press and Journal interview:
Plane came to rest 40ft up tree Businessman escapes with minor injuries
Biggles saved my life, says pilot after golf course crash
By Mark Dowie
Published: 13/08/2009
A pilot escaped after his plane crashed into a tree on a Dundee golf course yesterday.
The two-seat microlight became lodged in branches high above the ground, leaving Vince Hagedorn stranded.
Firefighters used a 44ft ladder to rescue the 63-year-old, who was trapped for about an hour.
Last night a relieved Mr Hagedorn, of Chelmsford, in Essex, told how a childhood love for the Biggles books “saved his life".
He said: “Captain W.E. Johns saved my life. As a boy, I remember reading a Biggles story where he was shot down over enemy lines and was flying over a wooded area. He managed to “pancake” the plane sideways into a tree, which minimised the impact and he walked away unscathed.
"In the moment before impact, I was doing about 70 knots and still managed to think, ‘What would Biggles do?'"
From his hospital bed at the A&E department of Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, where he was taken, Mr Hagedorn, a business management consultant, told of his amazing brush with death.
Mr Hagedorn, who has four years' flying experience in his own plane, a German-built Flight Design CT-SW, said: “I left Barrow-in-Furness in the morning and was heading for RAF Kinloss, where I had been cleared to land, to visit my daughter, Maggie, at Lossiemouth.
“I was just north of Dundee when I checked my fuel gauges and it said it was half full, but when I checked the wing gauges, one said it was empty and the other said I had only half an hour left of flying.”
Mr Hagedorn said he looked at his charts and saw he would have to land at either RAF Leuchars or Dundee – and Dundee was closer.
“But because I was north of the city, and the airfield to the south, I would've had to fly over the built-up city, which was not a good idea,” he said.
“Aside from not flying over the city population, I didn't like the look of the oil rigs and the bridges over the Tay, so I turned around.
“I saw a crop field which I thought looked fine for an emergency landing but, as I turned right, the engine cut.
“I called the Dundee tower and said, ‘Mayday, mayday, mayday', and I was losing height rapidly.
“I saw that there was a small housing estate in front of the crop field, so I had to rule it out.
“If I hit a house, I would be killed instantly, and I would also kill others, so I looked elsewhere and saw the golf course.”
He said he could not land on the fairway because there were too many trees – “so I lined up the tree and did what Biggles did, and stalled, and pancaked into it.”
Mr Hagedorn, who was thrown forward in the crash and suffered bruised ribs, a grazed side and bump on the head, conceded he was “overall very lucky”.
He was the only person on board. No one on the golf course was injured.
The Flight Design CTSW microlight came to rest 40ft up the tree, near the 15th hole of the Caird Park Golf Course, about 4.50pm.
Andrew Blacklaw was playing the 13th hole when the plane crashed and he was one of several golfers who called the emergency services.
He said: “We looked up and saw it gliding past over the fairway.
“It looked like he was going to land there but the plane went up again and went into the tree.”
Mr Blacklaw, 26, of Longtown Road, Dundee, said the pilot was in a jovial mood despite the accident.
“We shouted up to see if he was OK,” he said. “He said that he needed a ladder and joked that he was our new branch manager.
“He said he’d run out of petrol and that his glasses had cut his head.”
Club secretary Greg Martin praised Mr Hagedorn for using his skills to avoid nearby houses and roads.
He said: “It’s incredibly lucky and it looks like it was a good bit of pilot skill on his part.”
Tayside Fire and Rescue’s group manager Pat Walmsley said the pilot had been lucky.
He said: “It appears he got into difficulties above Dundee and may have attempted to land on the golf course.
“We assessed the situation and were able to speak to him from the ground.
“We got a ladder up and checked whether or not the plane needed to be secured.”
Mr Walmsley said the aircraft was lodged between a fork in the branches, with another branch supporting it from below.
“We checked how badly injured he was and checked with the trauma team, who were happy for us to bring him down,” he said.
Mr Walmsley added that the pilot was able to climb down the ladder by himself, with the aid of a safety harness and walk to a waiting ambulance.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said it would be investigating the incident.
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Readers' Comments
Well done Biggles .. I grew up with him too, but I don't know that I'd have had the presence of mind to recall his adventures, in a crisis situation! Well done, Mr Walmsley, glad you weren't badly injured.
Susie Main
CRX.