Skip to content
Support Us

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

AP Photo/Carl Muxlow

Pictures: four trapped after plane crashes into ferris wheel

Two children on the ride, and two men in the light plane were trapped after the aircraft collided with the ferris wheel at a fair.

TWO CHILDREN AND two adults were trapped for hours after an ultra-light plane crashed into a Ferris wheel at a rural festival in eastern Australia.

The Cheetah S200 carrying two men did not topple the Ferris wheel when it hit the frame near the top on the first morning of an annual three-day festival at Old Bar, a coastal village 350km north of Sydney, New South Wales.

Two children — a 9-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl — where trapped in a carriage at the top of the wheel near the wrecked plane for 90 minutes.

The 53-year-old pilot and his 32-year-old passenger were trapped inside the mangled aircraft more than 30 feet above the ground for almost three hours, police said. Rescuers used a crane to free the four, and there were no serious injuries.

The pilot, Paul Cox, 52, said he did not see the Ferris wheel before his plane hit it.

“The next thing I knew, I was stopped inside the Ferris wheel,” he said. “I had no idea for a few minutes and I was just hoping no one got hurt.”

Witnesses said the Ferris wheel was full of children minutes before the crash. But because of impending rain, only five had dared to take the final ride, said a festival organizer.

“The kids were fantastic,” said Brett Campbell, a paramedic at the scene. “They were so calm and so well-behaved and very brave. And so were the two gentlemen in the plane. They were just the best patients we could ever hope for, and the best thing about it, no one really had any injuries.”

Fizal Meah, a witness, said one of the children in a carriage below the area of impact was struck by debris and was left distraught but uninjured.

Two men and their plane hang from a Ferris wheel while two children sit in a carriage near the top of the ride (AP Photo/Carl Muxlow)

Image: Mattdegroot via Twitter

“Because the rain was stopping and starting, stopping and starting, it was almost empty,” Meah said. “A few minutes earlier, it was chockers. We were so, so lucky with the weather.”

Local resident Gary Jones said his 9-year-old twin sons were among the last to ride the Ferris wheel before the crash.

“It was a hell of a shock,” Jones said.

The plane, owned and piloted by a local man, had just taken off from a nearby air airstrip when it crashed.

- Additional reporting by AP

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
14 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nathan Wheeler
    Favourite Nathan Wheeler
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 10:52 AM

    Good guy China, mass murdering its own people for the glorious Communist future since 1949.

    Wally Mooney would love to spend time with his communist brethren.

    157
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James O Conner
    Favourite James O Conner
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 10:53 AM

    I’d say your great craic in the pub Nathan

    36
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nathan Wheeler
    Favourite Nathan Wheeler
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 10:55 AM

    I will take that as a compliment !

    102
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ted Murray
    Favourite Ted Murray
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 11:14 AM

    I think they’re more capitalunists these days.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean Johnston
    Favourite Sean Johnston
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 11:17 AM

    You think they were bad Commies? Wait until this embracement of capitalism has run its course. We’ll be lucky if anyone is left alive to tell the tale.

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barry Casey
    Favourite Barry Casey
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 12:53 PM

    When do you think that will be Sean? I’ll put your Nostradamus type prediction down in my diary

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patrick Hurley
    Favourite Patrick Hurley
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 11:19 AM

    27 years for a political non-violent protest. And we think we have a corrupt system.

    100
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ó Connmhaigh
    Favourite Ó Connmhaigh
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 1:22 PM

    Didn’t stop president Higgins and Irish politicians doing business with them.
    And then Higgins has the gall to tell the British that “a policy of amnesia won’t do” when it comes to facing up to injustices. Another cucumber sandwich, Dobby?

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jeremiah A Craic
    Favourite Jeremiah A Craic
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 10:45 AM

    A great bunch of lads

    61
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Old Gordon
    Favourite Old Gordon
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 12:55 PM

    Although they might be nominally communist, China does have some admirable traits. Without elections, they can plan long term without the issue of a new shower of moronic politicians ruining everything every five years.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Leo Lowe
    Favourite Leo Lowe
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 1:06 PM

    And they would know how to deal effectively with water protestors.

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Stratford
    Favourite James Stratford
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 5:17 PM

    Not everything is about water!

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Reid
    Favourite John Reid
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 3:02 PM

    The people who vote for the likes of the Marxist/socialist so-called People Before Profit, Anti-Austerity Alliance and Sinn Fein should read more articles like this, and about Venezuela and the rest of the countries which have adopted socialist/communist governments.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Clarke
    Favourite David Clarke
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 1:47 PM

    And your buddies Leo who have robbed this country blind and caused the deaths of hundreds who took their own life and sometimes took their kids as well you proud of that Leo the lion yea c.nt

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pat Walsh
    Favourite Pat Walsh
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 1:36 PM

    Poor man, he may have been better off with the death sentence.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute paul kelly
    Favourite paul kelly
    Report
    May 4th 2016, 3:10 PM

    I love chicken curry

    6
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds