Indian students in NZ plane crash

The pilot of a small plane which overshot the runway, clipped a fence and landed in scrub near Omaka Airfield yesterday has been described as a top flying student.
The pilot and a fellow student, both from India, escaped with minor injuries after the 10.30am crash.
They were taken to Wairau Hospital where they were treated and discharged yesterday.
A St John Ambulance spokesman said the 22-year-old pilot suffered minor leg injuries and his 18-year-old passenger suffered minor head injuries.
The four-seater Cessna 172 came from Feilding and was registered to Air Manawatu. The wreckage of the plane was removed by this morning.
Air Manawatu chief executive Michael Bryant said the pilot was one of the airline’s top students, with more than 100 hours of flying experience.
Mr Bryant flew to Omaka as soon as he heard about the crash and took the students home yesterday afternoon.
He said the students were from India. The pilot had been in the country for about seven months of a planned 10 month stay, while the younger man had only been in New Zealand for a month.
He said they were here specifically to do the course.
Mr Bryant could not comment on the cause of the crash but said Air Manawatu would “most certainly” be conducting its own investigation.
Two ambulances, and six fire appliances from Woodbourne, Renwick and Blenheim attended the scene where the plane crashed.
Sergeant John Butson of Blenheim police said the Cessna was landing in a southeasterly direction on the runway. It failed to come to a stop and clipped a fence between the airfield and the road.
The plane gathered height and crashed some 150m from the end of the runway, he said.
Wreckage of the plane was scattered around where it landed. The nose was pointing down and the tail was suspended above a fence on the edge of a bank overlooking the Taylor River.
Omaka Airfield’s runway was closed for about 40 minutes after the crash.
25/10/07 The Marlborough Express/Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand