Shellharbour Airport: Scenic flight on a vintage plane ends belly-up and lands upside down on airport runway
A couple’s sightseeing flight in a vintage plane almost ended in disaster after it crashed and turned upside down as it tried to reach the runway.
The striped 1951 Boeing Stearman was seen overturned on the tarmac at Shellharbour Airport in the NSW-lllawarra region on Saturday, with its wheels pointing towards the sky.
A pilot and passenger, a couple in their 50s, managed to escape the plane unscathed and without significant injuries.
A vintage biplane landed upside down at Shellharbour Airport on Saturday
They were treated by paramedics before the woman was taken to Shellharbour Hospital in a stable condition for further observation.
The pilot had just purchased the $200,000 plane and was still learning to fly when it crashed.
Shocked witness Clinton Down told 9News that it looked like a ‘wild ride’.
“I saw the tail go up again and again, it was a bit of a shock,” he said.
“Because it’s such an old plane, it’s a relief to walk away from something like that.”
Emergency services were called to the scene, where 70 liters of jet fuel had been spilled on the runway.
HAZMAT firefighters and airport personnel isolated the spill to prevent any potential hazards before beginning the cleanup process.
The cause of the crash has yet to be determined.
Emergency workers had to remove 70 liters of spilled fuel from the asphalt