Three people died but a trainee pilot survived when their plane plunged into mountains in Hokkaido on Thursday after its engine caught fire.
The survivor, Isamu Kawaguchi, told police he was thrown from the single-engine Beechcraft A36 by the impact of the crash during a flight from an aviation school based in Obihiro.
Two instructors and another student were killed, said a spokesman for the government-affiliated Civil Aviation College.
It was the second fatal accident involving planes from the college which has produced about 3,500 civilian pilots in its 57-year history, he added.
© AFP
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Asagao
He will know what not to do next time. Sorry for the deceased families.
some14some
aged plane?
Brian J. Sheets
A combination of bad things make it happen! They dont fall out of the sky!
Okinawamike
It was the second fatal accident involving planes from the college which has produced about 3,500 civilian pilots in its 57-year history, he added.
Second fatal chash in 57 years or second crash this year? Big differance.
shirokuma2011
Good visibility and weather reported in this forested area about 20km from Obihiro. They were practicing flying on instruments and apparently the student pilot looked up, saw clouds, then saw the clouds part to reveal a mountainside. One of the instructors took over the controls to attempt an evasive maneuver, but they ended up in the trees, where the plane became fully engulfed. The survivor made his way to the nearest road, climbing downstream for about 90 minutes with burns and other injuries, before being picked up by the police.
According to Japanese language reports, the school has recorded 20 serious aircraft incidents since 1974, with one previous fatality (an instructor) in a crash in 2002 during another training flight, and more recently, an overrun at the Obihiro airport involving a similar Beechcraft plane piloted by a student.
ka_chan
I don't understand why there were 4 people in a training flight. Excuse the pun but outside the student and instructor, the other two were dead weight.
chewitup
shirokuma2011, there was also something about an engine on fire?
miyazawa3
It is apparent. because It was not his( trainee ) mistake...and he suppose to live .. ..