A flight instructor and a student pilot died on 29 April when their Diamond DA42 Twin Star flew into a hangar at Adelaide’s Parafield Airport. Ten people inside the building were hurt.
The aircraft, registered VH-YQP, was flying circuits when it hit the hangar in the Kings Road precinct at around 2:10pm, Australian Flying reported. The two men aboard, aged 24 and 29, died at the scene.
Fire and injuries
Aviation fuel stored in the hangar fed a large fire. The building was also used for maintenance, aircraft storage and as a classroom, and several other aircraft inside were destroyed. The impact knocked out the internal sprinkler system, which made the firefighters’ job harder.
Among the ten injured, a 55-year-old man suffered life-threatening burns. Two others were in serious condition.
The investigation
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau sent investigators from its Canberra and Brisbane offices. Their areas of expertise are aircraft operations, maintenance and engineering, human factors and survival factors.
ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell confirmed that the plane was flying circuits. Whether a structured training exercise was under way had not been established, he said. He warned that the inquiry would take time, because carbon-fibre fire damage to the wreckage was extensive.
Parafield Airport stayed closed while evidence was gathered. The ATSB asked anyone with video of the flight or its immediate aftermath to use the witness form at atsb.gov.au/witness as soon as possible.
It was the second incident involving a student pilot at Parafield this year. In January, a Cessna crashed on takeoff without fatalities.
