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At midday today a C150 and Piper Warrior collided in mid air in the circuit of Moorabbin Airport. The C150 crashed into a garage while the Warrior made it back to land. The C150 crashed no more than 200 metres down the road from my house. This has shaken me a little as if the other runway was in use, my house would have been directly underneath the circuit and the crash.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/pil ... ntentSwap2

A student pilot has been killed after a mid-air collision near Moorabbin airport caused his light plane to crash in a Cheltenham street, just metres from a primary school.

The dead pilot's plane crashed into a garage in the backyard of a property in Silver Street, while the other landed safely at the airport.

All 200 students at Cheltenham East Primary School, which is at the end of the street where the plane crashed, were safe and well a police spokewoman said.

Royal Victorian Aero Club president Stuart Rushton said the man who was killed was a student pilot who was flying solo.

As written in my other post


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.

The aviation student from India

Sorry, not to be racist or anything, but this does not surprise me. A lot of the flying schools around the major training airports have a lot of foreign students and cadets. Those of Asian, Middle Eastern or Indian origins are dangerous, they don't seem to be able to handle the complex task of handling an aircraft. I'm not saying ever single one is bad, but the majority are. Last year at Bankstown I was doing circuits and and Indian was overflying the middle of the field thinking it was downwind and he was completely disorientated. Here at Moorabbin there are plenty of students like that. A lot of Asian cadets learn here, and are always making it dangerous for the rest of us to fly. Just the other day one incurred on a runway while another aircraft was landing.

Almost every time a light aircraft goes down due to pilot error, the pilot has originated from one of the above areas. I question why they are allowed to go solo. could it be possible that the flying schools are more interested in the money than safety?

These are sad events but the odds aren't always avoided. Your combination of comments brings something else into the workings of my strange mind, however, although it was before our time...
Perhaps this gives you a better understanding of those who lived near the runway during the Berlin airlift and the many skid marks on the rooftops. Especially since it was surrounded by hostile territory, the danger was always present; more remarkable than remembered.

I have often stood out the backyard looking up and watching the traffic. I always knew there was the possibility that something like this would happen, and knowing some of the students around the area, I expected something to happen.

Here at Moorabbin we have an Eastern and Western circuit. The Eastern is the busiest and is used for circuit training, where the Western is usually only used for arrivals and departures. If the Eastern fills up too much they do allow some circuits on the Western, but this is usually limited. I didn't think they would allow a student on their first solo to do it in the Western circuit. There is a good reason that the Eastern is used for training circuits and that is due to the area below it has a major road which can be used in emergencies, and there are a lot more open areas to try and land.

Heard this on the news just earlier, tragic news.

Wingo you raise alot of interesting topics here. I recently read an article in the latest issue of Australian Flying about the soon to be retired tower controller Warren Sparrows. He works the tower over at Moorabbin and the article goes on to say that he still has a lack of seperation anxiety but it has come along way since Moorabbin has GAAP procedures. The article does mention a previous mid-air collision there. I understand it can be very busy there but something needs to be done. However I did hear that the pilot of the 150 should be commended for avoiding the school.

Again not to be racist, but there have been previous instances at Camden where foreign pilots have infringed rules and disregarded airmanship. One such example where a pilot had no clue about joining inbound to Camden, he didn't know where the hell he was, to add the pilot had poor communication skills/lack of english and didn't know what ERSA was. The Camden ATC were kind enough to give him directions but you could hear their frustration. I was in the circuit at the time. Now this just isn't acceptable as this is dangerous to fellow pilots in their vicinity. However...

Wingo to your question about money over safety. Well, another article in AF reported that the industry is concerned about the falling standards of flight training. A new CASA initiative is coming in place where 'Airmanship' is officaially becoming a set of indentifiable and assessable qualities, evaluated on every flight test, effective July 1st 2009. If this is successful I hope to see safer skies for all.

I will shutup now.

Mmm, moving away from the flying abilities of those involved, maybe the airfield need to be looking at themselves. (Foreign) Solo students on their first solos? Other aircraft in the circuit at the same time?

Could easily have been 3 dead. Seems to be very lucky there was only one fatality.

....Those of Asian, Middle Eastern or Indian origins are dangerous, they don't seem to be able to handle the complex task of handling an aircraft.

Generalising like that helps nobody, there are very capable pilots of all races in the skies.. leave the investigating to the ATSB.