Fiery death for man who came here to learn to fly

Akash Ananth was just one of a growing stream of overseas students coming to Melbourne to learn to fly.
The 24-year-old’s parents in India were last night mourning his death after the light plane he was flying crashed into the backyard of a Cheltenham unit, metres from a primary school.
Mr Ananth was taking his first solo flight after hours of training with an instructor by his side.
Amrith Sachdev, a fellow student pilot at Moorabbin, posted a message to his friend on social networking site Facebook. “Plane crashes can happen any time,” he wrote. “Even good pilots have to die in a plane crash. may u rest in peace Akash.”
Mr Ananth was flying two nautical miles from Moorabbin Airport about 12.35pm when the wing of his Cessna 150 was clipped by another plane.
Cheltenham resident Jim Hilcke saw it happen. He said a low-flying plane that seemed noisier than usual diverted his attention. He noticed another plane in front of it and thought they were going to come pretty close.
Then a third plane appeared alongside them, clipping the wing and rudder of one and causing it to fall from the sky. “It spiralled out of control to the ground, where there was an enormous bang. It was horrifying to watch. A few seconds later a big plume of smoke went up,” Mr Hilcke said.
The plane crashed into a carport in Silver Street about 20 metres from Cheltenham East Primary School. Mr Ananth is believed to have died instantly.
Ambulance Victoria group manager Peter Swan said it was remarkable that no one else was hurt. “It’s a high residential area and there is a school opposite the address, so it’s very fortunate that no other parties have been affected by this,” he said.
Victoria Police Inspector Tom Shawyer said it was also fortunate that the other plane, a Piper Warrior – which was piloted by a trainee accompanied by an instructor – was able to “limp” back to Moorabbin Airport.
“Luck plays an extremely important part in these circumstances. It could have been significantly greater loss of life or injury than there was, even though one person has died,” he said. The pilot and instructor in the Piper Warrior were taken to separate rooms at the Royal Victorian Aero Club at the airport and asked to write down their version of events.
27/08/08 Andrea Petrie and Clay Lucas/The Age, Australia