A pilot in his early 70s is lucky to only sustain a minor hand injury when his Cessna 172 aircraft crashed into trees at Central Coast Airport at Warnervale on Monday, August 22.
Two off-duty paramedics were nearby at the time of the crash to assist the man before an Ambulance crew arrived to treat the man on-site before taking him to John Hunter Hospital for further treatment.
Manger of Central Coast Aero Club, Andrew Smith, said the man had a recreational pilot licence and had hired the plane from the Aero Club while he was doing further training to build up to a full private licence.
“He’s been flying for about 10 years so was fairly experienced,” he said.
“The pilot was in the process of landing and he decided to go around because he wasn’t happy with the approach to landing, which is quite common on windy days.
“Then something happened, we’re not sure yet what caused the accident until we can discuss it with the pilot.
“He landed on the ground and then went through the fence and ended up clipping some small trees and flipped over as it hit the trees.
“It was in that period where the wind was starting to build so he might have had a freak gust of wind, it’s really hard to see until I talk to the pilot,” Smith said.
Central Coast Council, who owns the airport, closed the runway for a couple of hours while Police, Ambulance and other emergency services made an assessment.
Smith said the Aero Club would review its processes following the incident.
“We’ve always been proud of our safety record, we’ve never had a fatality or any serious accidents in about 48 years of operating so this is very much an outlier,” he said.
“I think it was just one of those freak things and an unfortunate incident.
“The aircraft has been moved into a hangar waiting for an insurance assessment and we are expecting the plane to be a total loss,” Smith said.
The incident has been reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
Sue Murray