Pilot marvels at lucky escape in crash

Sarah Collinson says she was a bit nervous about flying over the crash spot a week later. Photo / Northern Advocate

With her hands gripping the controls and her plane heading for a crash landing, pilot Sarah Collinson turned her face away as the aircraft hit a bank just below Whangarei Airport.

On Friday, a week almost to the minute since somehow walking away from the crash, Ms Collinson flew over the same spot, a little nervous but wondering how she had managed to escape virtually unharmed.

The quietly spoken 24-year-old showed she was calm under pressure when forced to crash-land a Cessna 172 just short of the airport about 10.55am on the previous Friday.

The pilot, working for company Skydive Ballistic Blondes, had just dropped four skydivers over the airfield when the engine lost power.

The light plane ploughed nose first into a bank on Church St, metres from the runway.

Ms Collinson escaped from the crumpled wreck with just a gash below her right eye that left her covered in blood and required five stitches.

A week later, the former Kamo High School student with 4 years of flying experience was all smiles as she climbed from the cockpit after a 45-minute flight from Thames to collect a new plane. It was her first flight since the crash.

"I was a bit nervous. I was a bit higher than I would normally be just in case something did happen," she said.

"I looked down at the spot as I flew over and thought it was quite small and wondered how it all happened last week." The previous week when the Cessna started "running rough" she was worried because sometimes at height ice can form. Normally that would come right as the plane descended and prepared to land. But not this time.

At 305m she knew she was in trouble. Ms Collinson ran through a series of checks then at 123m the engine stopped. "It was either aim for the runway or the harbour."

She aimed high, but as the water came looming up, the road and bank came rushing at her.

She turned her face away as the plane took the impact.

"I sat there for a couple of seconds, then turned the fuel and the ignition off in case it caught fire. I was very happy the door opened, and I climbed out.

"I stood there and thought, 'What do I do now?' and that's when people came over to me and started helping.

"They told me to sit down and that an ambulance was coming. Someone started cleaning blood off my face ... there was blood everywhere."

It was not the first time she had experienced a midair crisis, though. In February, she was forced to glide 5km to safety to Kaikohe airfield after the engine on another plane she was piloting failed. It was a smooth landing with no damage to the plane.

Ms Collinson thanked all the people who rushed to help her after the crash.

"Your help was really appreciated, and I'm not sure if I thanked you at the time."

- APN