Sydney - Two small planes collided in mid-air in Sydney's
south-west Thursday, killing two women, both believed to be in their
20s.
The plane carrying the women, a Cessna 152 aircraft owned by the
Basair Aviation College, crashed into the backyard of a house in the
Sydney suburb of Casula.
The two women killed were a flight instructor and a student pilot.
The other plane, a single-engine Liberty aircraft owned by the
Sydney Flight Training Centre, with an 89-year-old male instructor
and 25-year-old male student pilot aboard, made an emergency landing
at Bankstown Airport. The two men were unhurt.
Police said a pergola attached to the house was destroyed when the
plane crashed into it, but fortunately, the owners and their
two-week-old baby were out shopping at the time of the incident.
Two neighbouring homes sustained minor damage from plane debris.
Police have begun an investigation into the circumstances
surrounding the crash.
'There's nothing worse in aviation. Unfortunately it is a part of
aviation. People suffer accidents on the roads regularly - it happens
in aeroplanes too,' Basair business development manager Darren Ward
was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Australian
Associated Press.
Ward told reporters that families, friends and work colleagues
were 'very upset and very, very distressed' about the deaths.
The 89-year-old flight instructor would have undergone rigorous
medical and flying proficiency tests every six months to retain his
commercial licence, Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter
Gibson said.
In September, a 20-year-old Indian trainee pilot died when his
single-engine aircraft crashed into farmland in Sydney's Luddenham
suburb.
In August, a second Indian trainee pilot died after the wing of
his plane was clipped in a mid-air collision with another plane and
crashed in the heavily-populated Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham.
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