Pilot's miraculous escape: Plane bursts into flames as man walks away with burns

A CROP-DUSTER pilot miraculously cheated death when his plane burst into flames after plunging into scrub yesterday.The Cessna aircraft crashed while spreading cricket baits about 10.30am at a Scotts Creek property off Tognellas Road, north-east of Timboon.Another pilot in the area reported seeing the plane erupt into a ball of flames shortly after impact. Michael East, 31, of Derrinallum, escaped the burning wreckage. He was the light aircraft's only occupant. A colleague who had been working on the ground drove him to a nearby farm house.He was later flown to The Alfred hospital with burns to one arm and possible neck injuries."He was so calm," the farmer, who preferred not to be named, said."He just walked up to the house and said 'G'day my name's Mick, I've crashed my plane. Can I please ring my wife to let her know I'm OK?'."It was incredible."The farmer rinsed Mr East's burns with cold water under the shower until paramedics arrived.The pilot walked out of the house to the ambulance before being driven to Camperdown's Leura Oval where he was flown to Melbourne. A spokesman for The Alfred told The Standard late yesterday that Mr East's condition was serious but stable.He was working for Derrinallum-based crop dusting contractor Western Aerial.The company's co-owner, Todd Miller, said he was relieved Mr East escaped the wreckage."We are all about our pilots. Planes are replaceable," Mr Miller said."The main thing is that he is OK."CFA units quickly contained a small grass fire which ignited after the plane crashed nose-first into bush.A firefighter at the scene said he first received a pager message about a pillar of smoke at Scotts Creek. It was upgraded to a plane crash minutes later."A plane crash is something you never want to hear," he said."You always expect the worst."Senior Sergeant Peter Langdon, of Camperdown police, said it appeared Mr East was turning around above a ridge line when he clipped the top of trees before crashing into scrub about 50 metres away. "It was lucky we didn't have a lot of wind," he said."The man's injuries where the main priority but it could have been pretty devastating if the fire spread, considering what has happened in recent weeks."Senior Sergeant Langdon said police would make further inquiries into the crash but said at this stage it appeared to just be an accident.The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said the incident was reported to The Australian Transport Safety Bureau.But Ian Sangston, the bureau's spokesman, said it would not investigate the crash."Our priority is the safety of the travelling public. Our executive director made a decision not to investigate this incident," he said."It is a priority and resource issue."Mr Sangston said the pilot must fill out a report, which would be filed."If we get a number of accidents of this nature, a flag will come up and we will investigate," he said.Cobden's SES unit also attended the crash site.The incident happened within a kilometre of where another crop duster crashed after it clipped power lines off the Cobden-Port Campbell Road about 10 years ago.