An 11-Year-Old Girl Was Fatally Injured After Plane Hit Power Lines

The pilot of a plane that went down at Ewingar in Australia in 2014 is on trial for manslaughter in connection with the accident.

The pilot, 55-year-old Patrick Crumpton, faces the manslaughter charges over the fatal injury of an 11-year-old girl who was a passenger in the Maule M-5 he was flying. the plane struck a powerline and went down in the Clarence River near the Ewingar State Forest.

ABC North Coast reports that Crumpton faces the indictable offence of manslaughter and two counts of operating an aircraft in a reckless manner to endanger the life of a person and property.

The pilot and the girl's father were able to free themselves from the wreckage after the plane went into the river, but they were unable to rescue the girl, according to the report.

Ewingar landowner Meryl Lee Ellaby told the Lismore District Court in New South Wales that she saw the plane just before it went down, and estimated the plane's altitude was just 20-30 feet above the water based on her perspective relative to the trees. She said her power went off about eight minutes after she saw the plane, and while she did not see the accident, she assumed that it was due to the plane she had seen earlier.

But the court also heard that the wires that the plane struck were not marked. The electrical safety officer for Essential Energy Peter John Bryant told the court that the powerlines in that location are not required to be marked. Under standards set in 2008, only power lines above about 270 feet are required to have marker balls or other identification. The lines at the accident scene were only about 75 feet high.

While CASA requires a low flying permit for operations close to the ground, a defense attorney argued that pilots often fly low in rural areas without such an endorsement.

The trial is ongoing.

(Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.districtcourt.justice.nsw.gov.au