Pilot student from India dies on first solo flight
Melbourne: A trainee pilot on his first solo flight died when his plane clipped another aircraft and crashed, barely missing several homes and a school in Melbourne today.
The aviation student from India crashed his Cessna 150 into a garage attached to several single storey units about 20 metres from Cheltenham East Primary School in Melbourne’s southeast.
Ambulance Victoria group manager Peter Swan said the scene in Lorna Street was chaotic when paramedics arrived but it was lucky no school students or residents were killed.
Aircraft operated by Royal Victorian Aero Club
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) says
the Cessna 150, which is a two-seater training
plane, collided with a Piper Warrior, which seats
four people, just after 12.30pm. A CASA
spokesman, Peter Gibson, says it is not clear
whether the planes were flying under the guidance
of the airport’s air traffic control. “Both aircraft
were operated by the Royal Victorian Aero Club,
which obviously is a major flight training
organisation.”
27/08/08 ABC Online
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“It’s a residential area and main through road for a local school opposite the residents so despite the tragic outcome of one person deceased, we’re very lucky no other person was affected,” he told reporters.
The male pilot in the other plane, a Piper Warrior, was also an Indian trainee but was accompanied by another qualified pilot.
They were uninjured and landed the plane safely at nearby Moorabbin Airport from where both aircraft took off.
“The male pilot was on his own and we believe under some form of instruction,” Police Inspector Tom Shawyer told reporters at the scene.
“The other plane involved was occupied by two males who we believe were also under some form of instruction.”
A group of Indian trainee pilots visited the scene soon after and confirmed the dead man had left Moorabbin Airport this afternoon, but they did not know him personally.
“He was on his first solo flight and came quite close to a collision and was forced to do a spiral dive,” trainee pilot Ben Zachariah said.
Manager at nearby Moorabbin Airport Phil McConnell said the plane that crashed was a Cessna 150 while the one it clipped moments earlier was a Piper Warrior.
27/08/08 Daily Telegraph, Australia