Wednesday September 8, 2010
Teen pilot dies in plane crash
By NELSON BENJAMIN
[email protected]
KULAIJAYA: A 19-year-old female trainee pilot was killed when the plane she was flying crashed into an oil palm plantation in Ladang Sri Pulai here.
Dione Woon Yong Chin (pic), who suffered severe burns, died at the scene while her examiner, Kpt Zaini Ramli, 38, from the Department of Civil Aviation survived the crash. He has been warded at the Sultan Ismail Hospital for burns. Woon, who was taking a test for her private pilot’s licence, was flying a two-seater Liberty aircraft belonging to the KL International Flying Academy (KLIFA).
A witness, estate worker Mohd Miswan Sukimin, 52, said he was picking fruits when he saw the aircraft crash into some oil palm trees. “There was a loud noise when the plane hit the trees and it plunged nose-down before flipping over. By then it was already in flames. “When I reached the wreckage, a man with burns from above his waist was outside the aircraft and he told me to help his friend who was pinned under the plane,” he said, adding that he tried to help the victim but the flames were too intense.
Total damage: The wreckage of the aircraft after it crashed in the plantation.
Mohd Miswan, who had been working in the plantation for 27 years, said personnel from the fire and rescue department arrived soon after the incident and put out the fire. At the mortuary, Woon’s friends were shocked. “She was supposed to complete her PPL and move on to another country to continue her flying career,” said one of her friends who declined to be named. Kulaijaya OCPD Supt Zulkefly Yahya said police had classified the case as sudden death.
