Gunship
3rd Jan 2006, 10:02
I wish them a speedy recovery :ok: Two men were seriously injured when a microlight plane crashed into the garden of a house at Lambert's Bay on the West Coast.
Experienced pilot Marcel Celliers and a friend, Anton Steenkamp, are being treated in Durbanville Medi-Clinic. Celliers was due to have an hip operation on Monday.
Johnny Phillips who lives in the house in Fieland Street said he heard a loud bang on Sunday about 19:20.
"I thought it was an earth tremor. When I went outside I saw one of the microlight plane's wings had hit the side of the house. Luckily the house wasn't damaged."
The aircraft's engine presumably cut out and it struck a power cable before crashing. Part of the town was without electricity for more than three hours.
Phillips said there were still sparks from the plane's electrical system when he went to help the two people in it.
He could not undo the seatbelt around one of the men and had to cut it loose with a knife.
Some residents in the area apparently saw the microlight was going to crash, and police and a doctor were at the house within minutes.
Phillips said the microlight might have crashed into the house if one wheel had not hooked on the power cable.
He and his nephew were watching television in the lounge, and his mother and one of the younger children were sleeping.
"The plane crashed on the lawn where my three-year-old nephew, Dwayne, usually plays with a ball. Thank God, he wasn't outside then."
One of Celliers' friends, Riaan Burnett, said the pilot had clocked up about 200 flying hours in the past three years.
Celliers advertised trips in a microlight plane on the Lambert's Bay information office's website.
Civil Aviation Authority aircraft accident inspector Jan du Plessis said on Monday the crash was being investigated.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1857600,00.html
Experienced pilot Marcel Celliers and a friend, Anton Steenkamp, are being treated in Durbanville Medi-Clinic. Celliers was due to have an hip operation on Monday.
Johnny Phillips who lives in the house in Fieland Street said he heard a loud bang on Sunday about 19:20.
"I thought it was an earth tremor. When I went outside I saw one of the microlight plane's wings had hit the side of the house. Luckily the house wasn't damaged."
The aircraft's engine presumably cut out and it struck a power cable before crashing. Part of the town was without electricity for more than three hours.
Phillips said there were still sparks from the plane's electrical system when he went to help the two people in it.
He could not undo the seatbelt around one of the men and had to cut it loose with a knife.
Some residents in the area apparently saw the microlight was going to crash, and police and a doctor were at the house within minutes.
Phillips said the microlight might have crashed into the house if one wheel had not hooked on the power cable.
He and his nephew were watching television in the lounge, and his mother and one of the younger children were sleeping.
"The plane crashed on the lawn where my three-year-old nephew, Dwayne, usually plays with a ball. Thank God, he wasn't outside then."
One of Celliers' friends, Riaan Burnett, said the pilot had clocked up about 200 flying hours in the past three years.
Celliers advertised trips in a microlight plane on the Lambert's Bay information office's website.
Civil Aviation Authority aircraft accident inspector Jan du Plessis said on Monday the crash was being investigated.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1857600,00.html