Plane ‘just fell out of the sky’

By Paul Dunlop
A BERWICK man watched in horror as a light plane crashed at Clyde North on Friday, killing two people.
Leon Russell was in a near by paddock when the home-built kit aircraft fell out of the sky and hit the ground in a fiery ball after doing acrobatics.
The pilot, a 36-year-old Hamilton man, and his passenger, a Fairfield man also aged in his 30s, were thrown out on impact.
Wreckage from the plane was spread over about 150 metres. Parts of the plane were also found on an adjoining farm about half a kilometre away.
Paramedics and fire crews rushed to the scene minutes after the crash but the plane had been incinerated, sparking a small grass fire.
Mr Russell was said he saw the aircraft, a single-engine Vans RV-4, in its final deadly descent.
“The plane was dropping really quickly and wasn’t that far away when things started falling off it. It was totally out of control, it was going really fast, it just came down.”
Mr Russell was with local resident Sue Miller when they saw the drama unfold just before 5.45pm.
Ms Miller watched the plane performing various flying manoeuvres before it suddenly plummeted out of the sky.
“It was horrifying. We see planes up in the air every day, flying upside down, spiralling, this area is a training ground for light aircraft,” Ms Miller said.
“You see them all the time, but they’re not meant to crash.”
The local pair looked on in shock as the plane crashed into the ground.
“It just exploded. There was a loud bang and then a fireball and black smoke,” she said.
Mr Russell said he saw debris falling from the plane as it dropped. Watching it fall from the sky was “quite surreal”, he said.
“You just don’t expect it. It was a shocking thing to see.”
CFA units from Clyde, Cardinia, Cranbourne and Tooradin attended the scene along with SES and police from Pakenham and Cranbourne.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating the crash and is expected to release a preliminary report within 30 days.
Forensic experts had to resort to DNA tests to identify the bodies of the two men because they were so badly burned.
A pathologist and coroner’s assistant went to the scene as did police from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit.
Their names have not yet been released.