A 78-year-old pilot who was flying over to a mate's place for coffee found himself doing a 360 flip after clipping a powerline on landing approach in Boorhaman on Monday.
The Warby Range resident had flown the 5-minute journey to his friend's house off Borland Road many times, but this time he decided to change his approach prior to landing on the private runway.
The problem was that he wasn't aware of a powerline and when a wheel on his single engine, light aircraft clipped the line, his plane flipped a full rotation, bringing it abruptly to the ground.
Sergeant Phil Pelgrim of Wangaratta police said "he was basically visiting for coffee and he flew this trip regularly".
"The pilot had to approach from the opposite direction he was used to due to an unusual wind direction," Sgt Pelgrim said.
Latest Stories
"He clipped a powerline about 50-100 metres short of the runway after it caught the front wheel.
"This flipped the plane and it fell to the ground right side up."
An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said paramedics were called to reports of an incident in Boorhaman at around 1.25pm.
"One person was transported by road ambulance to Northeast Health Wangaratta in a stable condition with minor injuries," a spokesperson said.
Sgt Pilgrim said the only injuries the pilot suffered were superficial cuts to his lip and he had some precautionary checks at hospital that were cleared.
"There was damage to the powerline and as a result there were 39 locals who were affected and Ausnet did attend the scene," Sgt Pilgrim said.
"All occurred on private property.
Sgt Pilgrim said it was a different direction he was accustomed to and if you were travelling from any direction you would struggle to see it and he wasn't aware that there was a powerline at that location.
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) spokesperson said it was notified of this accident, which involved an aircraft on the recreational register.
"In line with its remit, the ATSB does not investigate accidents and incidents involving most recreational, ultralight and sports aviation aircraft," he said.
Multiple units from AV, FRV, CFA and SES attended the scene.
