Pilot dragged to safety as light aircraft crash-lands

Sep 1 2008 by Neil Mckay, The Journal

A FLYING club member told yesterday how he dragged an injured pilot to safety after his plane had crash-landed.

And an emergency worker said it was “remarkable” how the casualty and his co-pilot had escaped the wreckage.

Eric Bentley, 62, was first on the scene when the light aircraft overturned as it landed on the grass airstrip at Morgansfield air strip, on a farm between Fishburn and Sedgefield, on Saturday afternoon.

Using a hammer and a knife, he managed to dislodge the windscreen and haul injured pilot Bill Knott to safety, helped by co-flyer Jim Edgeworth and other members of Fishburn Flying Club.

Yesterday Mr Bentley, a keen amateur aviator and an engineer by profession, of Rainton Grove, Stockton-on-Tees, said: “I just happened to be nearby. It took only seconds to reach the plane, which was stopping to refuel en route to Inver- ness.

“The pilot is a stranger to the airfield and maybe approached the air strip a little too fast.

“The plane simply flipped over. It didn’t take long to get the injured pilot out.

“Jim and other flying club members lifted the wing while I carried the pilot maybe 15 feet away from the plane as quickly as I could. You are always concerned about the possibility of fuel igniting in that sort of situation.”

Mr Knott’s co-pilot escaped with only cuts and bruises and managed to free himself from the wreckage.

But the pilot, who was understood to be in his 70s, suffered neck and back injuries.

He was taken by air ambulance to North Tees Hospital.

Mr Bentley said: “I was impressed at how quickly the emergency services arrived, including the Great North Air Ambulance. If I was ever involved in a plane crash, that is the sort of response I would hope for. I would also like to pay tribute to Jane Morgan, the daughter-in-law of airfield owner Beryl Morgan. Jane was an absolute star, comforting the injured man until the emergency services arrived.”

Mr Edgeworth, 62, an electrical engineer from Tees Grange Avenue, Darlington, said: “You would have thought a 747 had crashed judging by the number of emergency vehicles on the scene, including the police helicopter. Initial reports to the police had simply said a plane had crashed somewhere in the Fishburn area, and the police were out looking for it.”

Sarah Booth, of the Great North Air Ambulance, said: “Both the pilot and co-pilot were exceptionally lucky.

“When you look at the pictures of the plane, it is remarkable how they got out.”

The two-seater Vans RV light aircraft had set off earlier from North Weald airfield in Essex.

A Durham Police spokesman said: “At 3.50pm the light aircraft made an approach to land on the air strip.

“However, on effecting the landing the aircraft has flipped over.

“The pilot sustained injuries described as non-life threatening.”

An Air Accident Investigation Branch inquiry is under way.

Yesterday Great North Air Ambulance staff returned to Fishburn to receive a cheque of £1,000 from flying club members raised at a fund-raising event last month.