Paul Smith – an experienced pilot with two decades flying experience – was the only person on board when his light aircraft smashed into thick bush near Moruya Airport in New South Wales
A veteran pilot died in a fiery crash just moments after eight sky divers leapt out of his plane.
Experienced aviator Paul Smith’s light aircraft plunged into thick bushland near Moruya Airport on the South Coast of New South Wales on Saturday afternoon,
The 54-year-old pilot and skydiving instructor was the only person left inside the aircraft when it went down. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Two minutes before the crash, the plane was approaching 14,000 feet when the eight sky divers on board jumped from the plane – with them all landing safely within the grounds of the airport.
READ MORE: TV star posts pic of flying lesson – then dies in plane crash moments later
Detective Inspector Justin Marks told reporters: “He was a very well-respected, very experienced, and very well-liked local resident. The death or sudden death of anyone in a small community is very tragic.”
The inspector added that a report is being prepared for the coroner.
Angus Mitchell of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the skydivers have not yet been interviewed. However, other witnesses had observed “unusual sounds and flight pattern” before the plane came down.
The Bureau of Meteorology has been approached for information on the weather conditions at the time.
Chief Commissioner Mitchell said the plane had undergone a “fairly substantive maintenance check” before it was brought into the country just six weeks prior. The aircraft, which was built around 1980, had flown several times before the crash.
A prelimininary report could take as long as eight weeks to identify the circumstances around the incident.
Paul had more than two decades of experience as a pilot and had overseen more than 20,000 supervised jumps, receiving the Australian Parachute Federation’s highest honour last year for his contribution to the sport.
It comes after a famous Mexican TV broadcaster was killed in a horror plane crash – moments after posting a photo of the light aircraft she lost her life in as she prepared to take a flying class.
Newsreader Debora Estrella, 43, and pilot Bryan Ballesteros were killed when the two-seater Cessna she was learning to fly in crashed to the ground by an industrial estate in the city of Garcia in the north-eastern state of Nuevo Leon.
Unverified footage on social media purporting to show the tragedy showed a small plane spiralling out of control and coming down – with a helicopter above it diverting as its pilot tried to see if there was anything he could do to help.
Moments before the accident Debora posted a photo of the plane she went up in on her Instagram Live stories and wrote: “Guess what” before getting into it for take-off from Monterrey-Del Norte International Airport.