Pilot survives plane crash
GAVIN Colly, the pilot of a single engine Cessna aircraft, yesterday escaped without serious injury after the plane developed engine trouble and crash-landed at Wakefield, near Linstead, St Catherine.
Colly, the sole occupant of the aircraft, was airlifted to hospital in Montego Bay by a Jamaica Defence Force helicopter.
The Cessna was on a return flight from Montego Bay to Kingston, when at around 9:30 am it crashed just off a winding road on a United Estates orange farm, hitting two trees and damaging both wings in the process. A section of the cockpit’s window was smashed.
Carl Barnett, the managing director of Wings Jamaica Ltd who was present on the accident scene, said that the plane developed engine failure and the pilot called in to air-traffic control saying that he had a problem.
The cause of the accident is yet to be determined, but Barnett said that the age of the airplane was not necessarily a factor. “There are many reasons that an airplane could develop trouble and the age of the plane is not necessarily a factor. The plane is a 1974 model, which Barnett said “is young for some of our planes”.
Additionally, Barnett said the pilot, who obtained a licence from Wings late last year, acted cleverly to avoid disaster. “Fortunately for the pilot, he used a lot of skill to get the plane down and safely.”
An eyewitness, Scott Lennox, who lives in the area, told the Observer that he heard the plane “sputtering” over the orchard then “saw it sea-saw towards a nearby hills then swerve, gliding into the field” to a thump.
“I heard eyewitnesses say that he was heading for the road but that a truck was coming so he had to go into the orchard,” said Wings assistant engineer, Ricky Clarke, who yesterday examined the plane.
The plane, which is operated by Wings Jamaica Limited, will be transported to Kingston for further examination by the Civil Aviation Authority.