NSW: Two women dead after plane crashes into house

AAP General News (Australia)
12-18-2008
NSW: Two women dead after plane crashes into house

SYDNEY, Dec 18 AAP - A trip to see Santa has saved a mother and baby who would otherwise
have been home when a light plane crashed into their Sydney house, killing two female
pilots.

Two small planes from separate training schools collided in mid-air, sending one into
a spin before it smashed into the back of the Flame Tree Street residence in Casula, in
Sydney's south-west, about 11.30am (AEST) on Thursday.

Police say two women, believed to aged their 20s, died in the Cessna, which is owned
by Basair Aviation College. One of them was an instructor and the other a student pilot.

The other plane, a single-engine Liberty, which was owned by Sydney Flight Training
Centre, made an emergency landing at Bankstown Airport, police said.

Its 89-year-old male instructor and 25-year-old male student pilot were not hurt and
the plane suffered minor damage.

Basair business development manager Darren Ward said families, friends and work colleagues
were "very upset and very, very distressed" about the deaths.

"There's nothing worse in aviation. Unfortunately it is a part of aviation," he told reporters.

"People suffer accidents on the roads regularly - it happens in aeroplanes too."

Bianca and Steven Condina, and their two-week old baby Aiden, were not home when the
plane struck their house.

Mrs Condina's father said his daughter and grandson would have been there if not for
the Christmas season.

"I feel blessed," Gino Velerio told reporters.

"She took the baby for a photo with Santa Claus ... some time this morning."

He said Bianca and the baby normally spent most of their time in the kitchen, which
is attached to the patio area demolished by the plane.

Witnesses have described seeing the stricken light plane with a damaged tail flying
low over Casula.

"I was going along the M5 and I've just seen this thing coming down ... the tail was
hanging off the back and it's crashed into the back of a house up near Box Road and it's
absolutely demolished the back of their house," one witness told Fairfax Radio Network.

Neighbour Lisa Barker said the Condinas were new to the street.

"They've only just finished their house, three quarters done their landscaping and
just moved in and had a baby last week."

Another neighbour, Rob, said debris from the plane crash had damaged neighbouring houses,
"so it must have been pretty high impact".

Another man said the woman who lived next door to the house was in her pool when the
planes collided.

"She was telling me that the planes collided with each other and one of the wings was
just hanging off, and that was the one that came down and crashed into the house," Kiran
Chokkanna said.

"She was in the pool swimming, and luckily nothing happened to her."

Air Services Australia spokesman Rob Walker said the collision happened outside controlled
airspace.

"The incident took place outside of controlled airspace so they weren't under the control
of any of our controllers," Mr Walker told AAP.

"Light aircraft generally fly at the lower altitudes ... they fly according to CASA
regulations which means they basically keep a lookout and avoid, so they basically self-separate."

AAP vpm/evt/tnf/nf

KEYWORD: PLANES 3RD UPDATE

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