The incident happened just before 1:45 p.m., after the engine of the Airline Flying Club Cessna 152 failed. The aircraft was severely damaged after it skidded 200 meters across the paddock into a drain, and ended up on its roof.

The female pilot, who was just in her 20s, and her female student suffered minor injuries. Both of them were taken to Middlemore Hospital by ambulance.

Phil Welcome, the chief flying instructor at Airline Flying Club, appreciated the skill of the newly recruited pilot and said “It looks like she’s done an excellent job, and the only problem is at the end of her take-off run she’s encountered a drainage ditch.”

Welcome said a team of engineers would check the aircraft to find out the cause of the engine failure. He said “In these airplanes, engine failure is actually very, very rare.”

Senior Sergeant Ian Brenchley responded at the scene and started investigation on behalf of the Civil Aviation Authority.

The post Small Plane Crashes near Ardmore Airport, New Zealand first appeared on George Hatcher's Air Flight Disaster.