The pilot of a light aircraft was conducting a “touch and fly” maneuver when it crashed at Parafield Airport this week, the ATSB’s chief commissioner has said.
Speaking arrive sunrisesaid Angus Mitchell, student pilot—— Determined by Advertiser Youngin Kim, 21, said he was “very lucky” to escape unscathed from the accident. The aircraft involved in the accident was a Cessna 172M Skyhawk, whose registration number is understood to be VH-LG,E. firecausing grass fires.
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“They bounced pretty hard the first time they touched down on the runway, and then while trying to get airborne and apply power, there wasn’t enough air speed, causing the left wing to stall and descend and hit the runway,” Mitchell said.
“Fortunately now, about 30 seconds after the collision with the ground, the pilot had escaped from the scene. Then the plane caught fire, [was] It was then completely destroyed.
“At this stage we will start to look at the aircraft itself and then get more details about the experience – which we know was very low – but the pilot’s experience, the plan for the day and what caused the aircraft to lose airspeed leading to the collision.”
King is believed to have been in circuit training at the time, he told Advertiser He had about 20 hours of flying experience after the crash.
“I just wanted to keep going, I just wanted to know more. I just realized I needed to know…information about the aircraft stalling or landing,” he said.
“I just want to train harder and do better next time.”
Mitchell said that while there are risks associated with student pilots flying alone, “it’s good to be able to investigate the incident without having catastrophic consequences.”
“We are still gathering information to determine the nature and scope of the investigation, but we do know that student pilots flying solo do present some risk and each year we see approximately 20 accidents and incidents involving student pilots flying solo.”
“We need to understand exactly what happened here. We have an understanding of the circumstances surrounding it, but there are a few things we need to investigate before we can determine the scope of our investigation.”