Browse Sections

• Education
• Business
• Blog
• Special reports

Plane crash doctor saved by harness

Damon Wilkinson
23/ 6/2008

A PILOT who crashed his plane while trying to land has told how his life was saved by his body harness.

Ahmed Eskander, a doctor from Rochdale, escaped without serious injury after his Denney Kitfox two-seater nosedived into a hedge at City Airport in Manchester, formerly Barton Aerodrome.

Witnesses saw the plane being tossed about by the wind before hitting a tree and landing in a hedge close to the car park.

Dr Eskander, a consultant anaesthetist at Rochdale Infirmary, pulled himself free from the wreckage before collapsing.

He was taken to Hope Hospital with deep cuts to his knees.

The 57-year-old father-of-four, who has been flying since 1987 and has 1,200 hours' experience, said: "I came in to land, but the aircraft was not gaining its normal flying speed and I had to abort.

"So then I was concentrating on keeping it above stalling speed and I didn't see the tree.

"The plane flipped over and started plummeting towards the ground, the wing hit the ground and completely disintegrated and then I nose-dived into a hedge."

Recovering

Dr Eskander, from Norden, Rochdale, is now recovering at home after discharging himself from hospital.

He added: "Luckily, I was wearing a full body harness and I think that saved my life.

"I am just thankful that nobody was in the car park at the time."

An eyewitness said: "You could see he'd decided to put on full power and go back round for another landing attempt.

"But he went into a stall and was having to fight the wind. The plane almost flipped over, it was like something out of a James Bond film.

"The plane came whizzing past the roof of the clubhouse and everybody in there screamed. Then there was a loud bang, and everybody came running out.

"He'd crashed into trees and then flipped round into a hedge.

"He narrowly missed crashing into the cars in the car park and only the hedge stopped him from crashing onto Liverpool Road.

"It was totally surreal. Somehow he managed to pull himself out of the wreckage before collapsing on the ground."