Pilot scrambled from plane crash with broken ankles

Kapiti Observer

The replica Focke-Wulf 190 had to make an emergency landing.

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Wellington pilot Murray Milne, who crash-landed his replica German fighter plane on farmland near Levin on Friday, was able to scramble clear of the wreckage despite breaking both his ankles.

Mr Milne, 56, also suffered a fractured skull in landing his newly acquired small-scale replica Focke-Wulf 190 after it lost power on only his second flight in the aircraft.

His wife Janeene said Mr Milne bought the locally built kitset plane last month and had done only one takeoff and landing before flying it from Tauranga to Paraparaumu.

The single-engine plane lost power around Levin and he put out a mayday call. He picked a spot to put the plane down, narrowly missing a water trough before coming to rest on a fence. He then called police on his cellphone.

"He did a very good job and was able to get out of the plane and walk away," Mrs Milne said.

She expected him to come out of hospital within the next few days but he was going to be incapacitated for some time.

Mr Milne, who works as an engineer for Air New Zealand in Wellington, has been flying light aircraft since he was 16.

- © Fairfax NZ News