A light aircraft nosedived into a Johannesburg house on Wednesday evening, seriously injuring its pilot and co-pilot, said rescue workers.
The Piper Seneca took the roof off the patio of the house in Greenacres Street, Birdhaven, near the Wanderers, at 5.50pm, said Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley.
It landed up on its nose, wedged between a tree and the house. ”The tail was almost touching the nose,” he said.
Rescue workers had to stabilise the aircraft before they started ”hammering and bashing” to try to save the co-pilot, who was trapped in the wreckage.
They also had to blanket the area with foam to stop it catching fire.
The Piper Seneca is fuelled by avgas, which is as volatile as paint thinners, said Midgley.
The two men in the aircraft were lucky there had been no fire when they crashed, he said. ”If there was fire, they wouldn’t have survived because of that fuel being so volatile.”
Police said the aircraft had been en route from the Lanseria Airport to the Grand Central Airport at the time of the crash.
Midgley said Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials at the scene indicated that the aircraft was being flown back after undergoing ”some form of repair or maintenance”.
He could not comment on reports that the pilot was thrown from the aircraft during the crash, but said he had been ”easily accessible”.
It is understood he was taken to the Milpark Hospital in a serious condition.
It took rescue workers an hour to extricate the trapped co-pilot. However, he was ”quite lucky”, said Midgley.
”… he has mainly facial injuries… we can’t find anything else major,” he said.
He was also understood to have been taken to the Milpark Hospital.
No one in the house was hurt.
Johannesburg police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Eugene Opperman said the CAA was investigating the crash. — Sapa