JOHOR BARU: A student pilot, who was flying solo, escaped with injuries after his aircraft crashed into a ditch during landing at the Senai International Airport.
It is believed that the student was doing training manoeuvres after his four-seater Piper PA28-161 aircraft was cleared to land together with another aircraft belonging to a flying club.
“The first plane landed safely. But when this aircraft touched down, somehow the pilot lost control and it veered into a ditch beside the runway,” an airport official said, adding that four aircraft were taking turns to land during that period.
He said the third and fourth aircraft landed safely, adding that the crash did not disrupt airport operations.
The student pilot, in his 20s, was sent to the Kulai Hospital for injuries to his face and body at 2pm on Saturday.
One of those who rushed over to help him said the pilot was already brought out of the plane by the time he got to the scene.
“I immediately sent him to the hospital for treatment,” he said, declining to reveal further.
It is learnt that the Department of Civil Aviation has been told about the crash.
The last incident involving this flying club happend five years ago when a bank officer spent six hours trapped in a wreckage of a two-seater Cessna before rescuers found him in the Gunung Pulai forest reserve.
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