A man has escaped without physical injury after a light plane crashed into a fence and a car in Sydney’s west on Saturday morning.
The aircraft got into trouble moments after taking off from Bankstown Airport just before 11.30am and tried to land on the nearby Bankstown Trotting Recreational Club.
It is understood the plane was airborne for about four minutes when it lost power, before landing and skidding for several metres, losing part of its wing and slamming into a parked Mazda.
CCTV footage from the scene shows the out-of-control light plane careering towards the carpark before crashing into the vehicle.
Five people were evacuated from the carpark as firefighters sealed off the area and contained a minor fuel leak.
Bankstown Paceway operations manager Steve Thurlow said the pilot told him he had a child on the way.
“I felt sorry for him,” Thurlow told.
“He said ‘I just got married and I’ve got a kid on the way and all’ .
“He said ‘I thought to myself this is it’.
“It sort of hit me because I realise how close he came to not being here but thankfully, thank god, the outcome is what it is.”
The plane’s owners Sydney Aviators declined to comment on the crash.
The owner of the Mazda was line dancing in the club at the time of the incident.
The plane has been towed and police have handed the scene over to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
The bureau will gather additional information to determine whether it will launch a full-scale investigation.
