Miracle escape after jet crashes
Published: September 7, 2006
A PILOT and an engineer had a miraculous escape after their plane crashed into a potato field and exploded in a fireball.
The privately owned T-33 twinseat jet aircraft came down just seconds after it took off from the Duxford Imperial War Museum at around 2.20pm yesterday (Wednesday, 06 September).
The 59-year-old pilot and the engineer managed to climb out of the twisted wreckage before the emergency services arrived at the field adjacent to the A505.
Eyewitness James Hepnar, 15, from Eastbourne, was visiting the museum with his grandparents when he saw the plane crash.
He said: “It didn’t seem to takeoff properly and it was dragging two wheels along the runway.
Then I saw it explode into a fireball and there was loads of smoke. It was really shocking and it is a miracle that the two men managed to get out alive. My first thought was that they must be dead.” Firefighters, police and ambulance crews raced to the field to find two parts of the wreckage ablaze and the men sitting on the ground waiting for them.
Sue Pateman, from the East of England Ambulance Service, said: “The plane came down approximately a mile to the west of the airfield. Witnesses reported the jet had clipped a tree before somersaulting into the ground and bursting into flames.
Astonishingly, the two-man crew escaped serious injury and managed to get out of the wreckage of the plane themselves.
The 59-year-old was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital by land ambulance as a precaution.
The other member of the crew was not injured.
“Both men have clearly been extremely lucky to escape from an accident that could easily have had fatal consequences.”
Gary Mitchley, fire incident commander and station officer at Parkside Fire Station, also said the two men had a “very lucky escape.”
He said: “We could see a plume of smoke from the M11 as we were making our way to the scene. We were prepared for the worst but when we arrived we discovered that both of the men onboard had walked away from the crash. That is the best possible outcome in this kind of incident. I would say they had a very lucky escape.” Firefighters spent half-an-hour extinguishing the fire and made the area safe.
Sgt Mark Yeldham, from Cambridgeshire police, said:
“The men walked away from the scene of the accident and were treated by the emergency services. Anyone who walks away from a plane crash like this is extremely lucky indeed.”
The plane was heading to the Jersey International Air Display
* an hour’s flight from Duxford.
Mick Martin, head of airfield security, said: “I have spoken to the engineer who is still a bit shaken up but both of the men will make a full recovery. The pilot suffered some cuts to his legs when they got bashed around in the cockpit. He is an extremely experienced pilot and we do not know what caused this crash yet and we cannot speculate.”
Richard Ashton, director of the museum, said: “We are all very pleased that not only are the pilot and passenger safe, but that no visitors or members of the public were hurt in the crash. The airfield’s emergency services were onsite immediately and with the assistance of the local emergency services, dealt with the incident. The aircraft came down shortly after take-off. My feelings are of pride that the emergency team reacted as quickly and efficiently as they did and of immense relief that no-one was seriously injured.”
An internal review will now be carried out at them museum to ensure that all aspects of its safety procedures were fully implemented.
The Air Accident Investigation Branch will also be carrying out a full investigation into the crash.
The plane that crashed was a US-built T-33 Shooting Star.
It is one of the best known military training aircrafts in the world - having been used by the air forces of 20 different countries for almost 40 years.
T-33s first flew in March 1948 but continued to be used to train pilots into the 1980s.
There is only room for two members of crew onboard and the aircraft that crashed yesterday (Wednesday, 06 September) was an ex-military plane but it had no armaments onboard.
That particular plane was not fitted with ejection seats so the crew had no opportunity to exit the plane before it crash landed.
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