Man dies after Salford plane crash

Pilot dies from burns and teenage passenger remains critical after light aircraft crashed between two houses on Friday One of two men injured in a plane crash on Friday has died, police have said. The men suffered extensive burns after their light aircraft crashed between two semi-detached houses in Salford, Greater Manchester shortly after takeoff and burst into flames. A Greater Manchester police spokesman said the 59-year-old pilot died on Sunday morning and his 19-year-old passenger remained in a critical condition in hospital. The single-engine Piper PA38 Tomahawk aircraft left City Airport Manchester on Friday afternoon, flying only a short distance before coming down and hitting the two homes in Newlands Avenue, Eccles. Extensive structural damage was caused to one of the properties. No one apart from the occupants of the aircraft, operated by Ravenair Flying School, was injured. A spokeswoman for North West ambulance service said: “There were two patients on board who both suffered burns.” She said the pilot had 70% burns, while the passenger suffered 60% burns. They were taken by air ambulance to Wythenshawe hospital. Greater Manchester fire and rescue service station commander Paul Duggan said neighbours rushed to help the stricken pilot and his passenger, who had landed “fairly neatly” between the two homes at numbers seven and nine Newlands Avenue. He said: “The plane had also caught fire, so a number of people, including an occupant of the property, two passersby and a passing police officer, then tried to fight the fire by putting water on it. “That was fairly successful but not until some burns had been sustained by the occupants of the aircraft. “One occupant of the plane was removed quite quickly but the second had to be cut from the wreckage.” Structural engineers from Salford city council assessed the damage to the two buildings and arranged temporary accommodation for the two families affected. A spokeswoman for City Airport said: “The Civil Aviation Authority has been informed, as has the Department of Transport’s air accident investigation branch. “The aircraft was operated by Ravenair Flying School. Investigations are now under way by both the emergency services and the AAIB.” Plane crashes Air transport Manchester guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 31, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.