Military style plane crash lands in Goolwa paddock, pilot and passenger escape uninjured

An ex-fighter jet pilot and his French counterpart have had a miraculous escape when their military trainer aircraft crash landed in a paddock on the Fleurieu Peninsula after engine failure.

The small plane was forced to use a paddock near Kessell Rd at Goolwa as a runway when its engine failed just after midday. Picture: Gary Juleff

An ex-fighter jet pilot and his French counterpart have had a miraculous escape when their military trainer aircraft crash landed in a paddock on the Fleurieu Peninsula after engine failure.

The pair was making their final approach into Goolwa Airport after aerobatics training when the Aermacchi S-211 turbo-fan powered military trainer suddenly lost power just after midday.

Pilot Jim Whalley said he started looking for a paddock when the throttle stopped responding.

“It was like: ‘We’re not going to make it back to the airfield’, so start looking out for a paddock to land,” he told the Sunday Mail.

“And fortunately I found a nice big green one. (We) touched down and everyone is okay. A little bit of minor damage and a lot of mud on my aeroplane.”

With 28 years’ experience in the Royal Australian Air Force, Mr Whalley said there was no time for panic when the engine cut out.

“I think the heart palpitations will probably come over a glass of scotch tonight,” he said.

Although safely on the ground, Mr Whalley still had to steer the aircraft underneath a low-hanging sprinkler system.

“As I’m ploughing through the paddock it was like go in between the pipes, which we managed to do,” he said.

“(But) it’s taken a couple of inches off the tail... Not an ideal outcome but given an engine failure I’m pretty happy with how it all turned out.”

Mr Whalley is South Australia’s chief entrepreneur and the co-founder of defence industry company Nova Systems.