Hi folks,
just saw this on the front of a local paper, hadn't heard. Picture shows poor 206 in a ditch with collapsed nosewheel. Pilot walkied away. Jobsagoodun, despite the reporting style.
Story here
or (courtesy of Aberdeen's Press and Journal newspaper)
HELPLESS RESIDENTS WATCHED PLANE PLUNGE
CLAIRE STEWART
09:00 - 26 August 2003
Horrified Perthshire residents told yesterday how they watched helplessly as a plane plummeted from the sky and crashed into a field.
Locals heard the engine of the Cessna 206 light aircraft cut out and watched as it glided briefly before falling from the sky. The single-engine plane crashed into a field at Standingfaulds Farm by Braco.
Fearful of what they might find, residents rushed to help the pilot.
One resident, who asked not to be named, said: "I didn't really know what I was going to see when I got there."
Fortunately, the pilot suffered only cuts and bruises and had begun to free himself from the wreckage by the time they got there.
The resident said: "The first thing he said was 'Am I alive - am I dreaming?'."
The drama unfolded on Sunday afternoon as the plane was coming into land at Strathallan Airfield, which is used by a skydiving club at the weekends.
It is believed the pilot had just dropped off three passengers when he experienced engine trouble.
Recalling the incident, a local said: "It flew over my house, I heard the engine cut off. I looked up concerned. He started circling my house, he was gliding from there on. He picked the right field to land in and unfortunately crashed."
Praising the pilot's skill in handling the emergency, the local said: "In the circumstances I think he controlled it very, very well. From what I saw he picked the right field to land in, but he just ran out of forward thrust and the plane just dipped."
It is thought the plane fell around 150 to 200m to the ground just skimming over tree tops.
As locals ran to help the pilot they shouted to the farmer's wife at Standingfaulds to call for help and an ambulance. The fire service and police were called in.
The local said the pilot had cuts and bruises to his legs and chest, where the cockpit of the plane had collapsed on impact, and a bang to the head.
Though badly shaken, the pilot managed to say that he suspected a blockage in the fuel line may have caused the crash.
The quick-thinking pilot also managed to switch off all the fuel lines on the plane to stop an explosion after the crash.
An ambulance attended and the pilot, who is believed to be in his 30s but has not been named, was taken to Perth Royal Infirmary.
A Tayside Police spokeswoman yesterday said air accident investigators would be looking into the crash.
Tayside Fire Brigade said a foam salvage tender had been mobilised when the accident was called in, but had been stood down.
Two appliances from Auchterarder attended to check there was no chance of the wreckage catching fire.
(P and J 26 Aug 03)