Plane crashes on street in Melbourne suburb, killing pilot

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Plane crashes on street in Melbourne suburb, killing pilot

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australia plane crash
A light plane crashed and burst in to flames on a suburban backstreet of the Australian city of Melbourne on Friday, killing the pilot. (Screengrab: Reuters)
(Updated: )

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SYDNEY: A pilot was killed after his small plane crashed and burst into flames on a residential street in the Australian city of Melbourne on Friday (Jun 8).
The plane crashed on Scarlet Street, Mordialloc, less than a kilometre from a small airfield. It took out power lines on its way down just after 5pm.
"The plane is in the middle of the road, it went through the fence of one of the residences ... It crashed into the house," a resident told local radio station 3AW, as reported by The Age.
"I think it did a crash landing, not a controlled landing. There are a lot of people, police cars, ambulances, there's a lot going on," he added.
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emergency services at the scene after australia plane crash
Emergency services at the scene following the crash. (Screengrab: Reuters)

"(The fire) was very intense, it was very strong," eyewitness Robert Fox told The Age.
“No-one went too close (to the plane) because there was too much glass, there were power lines down, and there was no one moving in there and you knew there was nothing you could do, even if you could,” said another resident.
The pilot is believed to be the only person in the plane, said police officer Belinda Batty in a statement, adding that there are no other injuries.
A video posted on social media showed a part of the street being cordoned off as emergency services were on the scene.
Scarlet Street is a narrow tree-lined road with single-floor houses about 25km from the centre of Melbourne, and the plane went down near a school and a day care.
“There are all sports on there (at night), there’s a daycare there on the high school side. But they said they evacuated them,” said one resident quoted by The Age.
It also reported that planes in the area would "fly so low it was ridiculous". 
"The planes would take off and be so low it was just unbelievable. You could see them nearly touch the gum trees at the back of the house, it looked like they would hit the top," a former resident told The Age.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau classified the plane as a single-engine Cessna 172.
The bureau is also expected to begin its investigation on Saturday, added ABC News.
Source: Agencies/aa