‘Massive ball of flames’: Man dies in plane crash in central Victoria
By Lachlan Abbott and Hannah Kennelly
A pilot has died in a plane crash on a farm in central Victoria.
Emergency services were called to Coliban Park Road in Redesdale shortly after 12.30pm on Friday in response to reports of a light aircraft crash.
Police confirmed the male pilot – the sole occupant of the aircraft – died at the scene.
“It is believed the pilot was flying over private property ... when the aircraft crashed about 12.30pm,” police said in a statement.
Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
Nearby resident Ashley Scott told ABC News he heard a loud bang on Friday afternoon.
“I’m like, ‘that didn’t sound right’, looked over to the west and saw a parachute, but I heard another explosion at the same time, and it was an impact on the ground sort of thing,” he said. “[I] jumped in the car ... rang triple zero straight away.”
Scott said he drove to the crash site and saw a “massive ball of flames”.
He said that when he arrived at the scene, there was nothing he could do to help.
Two people died in a light plane crash at Mount Beauty Airport in Victoria’s north-east in April. Pilot Greig Wanless, 67, and passenger Kate Callingham, 39, were killed after their plane nosedived.
The pair intended to distribute the ashes of a loved one over the High Country.
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