Vic Pisani feared the worst when his newly purchased aircraft lost power above the Sunshine Coast hinterland yesterday.
Hurtling along the ground, the nose hit uneven ground and balanced "for about 10 seconds" before the plane flipped onto its back.
"So I had to undo my seatbelt upside down, opened the door … the door wasn't even damaged — it opened fine and [I] crawled out of the wreckage," Mr Pisani said."Something clearly catastrophic had happened to the engine," he said."It's good to be here," he said.Hours after the crash, Mr Pisani said he had just purchased the aircraft in Gympie and was flying it back to New South Wales.His family expressed gratitude on social media for those who raced to help.
"We are so grateful for the tradies who rushed to Vic's aid, the emergency personnel and everyone concerned with making sure he was OK," Amanda Pisani said.Mr Pisani said this was his first and "hopefully last" incident in more than three decades of flying and that he was uncertain about returning to the air."But I'm kind of keen to get back into the saddle."
The veteran pilot had recently completed a refresher training course and recommended private pilots regularly did their emergency drills.Mr Pisani said Recreational Aviation Australia would investigate the cause of crash while he awaited an insurance assessment.
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