Pilotless plane plows into crowd at air show

April 13, 1998
Web posted at: 2:17 p.m. EDT (1817 GMT)

VICTORIA, Australia (CNN) -- At least one person, a teen-age girl, was injured after a pilotless plane spun out of control at an Australian air show, hurtling through hundreds of spectators.

The plane was being started up for a flight at the Mangalore Airshow, 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Melbourne, on Sunday when the owner, 66-year-old George Markey, lost control of it and it skidded into the crowd. About 600 people watching the air show fled the plane as it plowed across the field.

Onlookers had no warning of the danger, said witness Martin Difesa. "I thought it was going to get airborne," he said. "But then it crashed into (the crowd) and everyone started running in all directions."

Some airshow attendees tried to stop the out-of-control plane after it hit and injured a 13-year-old girl.

Luckily for the girl and the other spectators, the plane's propeller was in the rear, and not on the nose, noted Difesa. "If the propeller was on the nose of the aircraft, I would say that there would have been more people injured, really," he said.

There was no word on what caused the plane to spin out of control. Ambulance officers and rescue officials were on the scene immediately. Local police said they had not yet decided whether to press charges.

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