A trainee pilot on his first solo flight died when his plane clipped another aircraft and crashed, barely missing several homes and a school in Melbourne
The aviation student from India crashed his Cessna 150 into a garage attached to several single storey units about 20 metres from Cheltenham East Primary School in Melbourne's southeast.
Ambulance Victoria group manager Peter Swan said the scene in Lorna Street was chaotic when paramedics arrived but it was lucky no school students or residents were killed.
"It's a residential area and main through road for a local school opposite the residents so despite the tragic outcome of one person deceased, we're very lucky no other person was affected," he told reporters.
The male pilot in the other plane, a Piper Warrior, was also an Indian trainee but was accompanied by another qualified pilot.
They were uninjured and landed the plane safely at nearby Moorabbin Airport from where both aircraft took off.
"The male pilot was on his own and we believe under some form of instruction," Police Inspector Tom Shawyer told reporters at the scene.
"The other plane involved was occupied by two males who we believe were also under some form of instruction."
A group of Indian trainee pilots visited the scene soon after and confirmed the dead man had left Moorabbin Airport on Wednesday afternoon, but they did not know him personally.
"He was on his first solo flight and came quite close to a collision and was forced to do a spiral dive," trainee pilot Ben Zachariah said.
"He would have been doing circuits which means you are not more than 1,000 feet (305 metres) high and couldn't have had time to do it safely."
Nearby resident Jim Hilcke said he was in his backyard when he saw a plane flying low just before 12.40pm (AEST).
"I watched the plane fly over and thought it was coming very close to another plane, then I saw a third plane and that was the one that it hit, the right wing tip hit the tail of the plane that crashed," Mr Hilcke told AAP.
"I think the attention of the pilot would have been on the first plane that he was getting really close to.
"I saw them hit each other. It crashed down and went out of sight. I heard a bang and smoke went up.
"I shit myself and rang triple 0."
A witness who gave his name as Darren was one of the first on the scene and tried to save the pilot.
"I was driving by and I heard a big bang and saw him go into the back of a fellow's garage," Darren told Fairfax Radio Network.
"Me and another couple of guys jumped in and borrowed a fire extinguisher from the school to put it out."
Lorna Street resident Kevin Fennessy said he heard a plane flying very low and, as it got over his neighbour's house, he could tell the engine was not firing properly.
"The next thing I knew there was a loud explosion and black smoke," he told Fairfax Radio.
All students at the primary school were safe and well, a police spokeswoman said.
Manager at nearby Moorabbin Airport Phil McConnell said the plane that crashed was a Cessna 150 while the one it clipped moments earlier was a Piper Warrior.
