A trainee pilot has escaped injury after crashing during a ‘low-speed runway excursion’ at a Royal n Air Force base.
It’s understood the student was controlling a PC-21 Roulette plane when it crashed at the RAAF Base in East Sale, southeast Victoria, around 2pm on Thursday.
The trainee was taken to the base medical centre for assessment but was not injured in the crash.
Local photographer Grant McKillop told Daily Mail that he arrived at the airstrip roughly three hours after the crash to find dozens of people still there.
‘I saw about 20 guys in hi-vis vests basically doing salvage recovery and two fire trucks when I took my photos at 5pm,’ Mr McKillop said.
‘It was [likely] the investigation crew grabbing all the props and stuff that came off the plane so that investigators can figure out if the crash was caused by human error or some sort of mechanical failure.’
The RAAF has confirmed the incident will be investigated.
Pilots require intense training to operate the PC-21 Roulette plane which often flies as 80 metres and at speeds of up to 685 kilometres per hour during showcases.
Meanwhile on Friday another student pilot was forced to make an emergency landing on a popular Sunshine Coast beach after a reported engine failure.
Queensland Police confirmed the small plane landed at Bulcock Beach in Caloundra at 9am and that neither the student nor the instructor on board were injured.
Tomas Murray, a different flight instructor, commended the instructor on board who ‘followed all correct procedures during the emergency’.
‘The engine failed in some way. We don’t know the details and will be investigating,’ Mr Murray wrote on social media.
‘Plane is okay but will be assessed by flight engineers and a report will be made.’
More to come