Skip to main content

Parking problem

An Australian couple caused something of a parking problem with their vehicle in a quiet residential Sydney side-street. The issue was that their vehicle should have been in the air rather than on the ground, as it was a single engine Piper aircraft.
February 27, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
An Australian couple caused something of a parking problem with their vehicle in a quiet residential Sydney side-street. The issue was that their vehicle should have been in the air rather than on the ground, as it was a single engine Piper aircraft. The incident occurred when the couple encountered engine problems during a routine flight and although they tried to land their aircraft at a nearby airport, the aeroplane lost height too quickly as it lost power and soon proved unable to reach the airport. As the pilot struggled to maintain altitude, the Piper clipped some power lines, shearing off a wing and then tumbled upside down into the street, much to the alarm of the local residents.

Luckily the couple, and their dog, were able to scramble from the aircraft and nor did the Piper catch fire or were any other people injured in the crash. However, as the aircraft hit the power lines it did cut off electricity to around 7,000 homes and eight sets of traffic lights in the vicinity, causing additional traffic disturbance. The couple were taken to hospital following the incident for medical checks but were later allowed to leave having only suffered minor cuts and bruises. The dog was not able to comment on its traumatic descent or on its willingness to face future flights.

Related Content

  • UK developing plan to tackle driving under the influence of drugs
    March 22, 2012
    The UK Government is now working on a plan to address the road safety issues caused by driving under the influence of drugs. A panel of experts has been set up to evaluate the levels of various illegal drugs in the bloodstream that would affect driving ability.
  • ACE/AECOM report: private sector and user-pay for English roads
    May 14, 2018
    It’s one minute to midnight for funding England’s roads, according to a timely new report, and the clock’s big hand is pointing to some form of user-pay solution, reports David Arminas Is there any way out of future user-pay funding for England’s highway infrastructure? The answer is a resounding ‘no’, according to the recently published report: Funding Roads for the Future. The brief 25-page document by the London-based Association for Consultancy and Engineering, ACE**, sums up the state of England’s ro
  • Highways England, Kier trial warning airbag
    February 23, 2021
    “Home Safe and Well”* is not just an inflated phrase put out by Highways England to raise awareness of work zone dangers. A large prototype airbag is adding some highly visible emphasis to the agency’s safety focus, reports David Arminas
  • New methods for non-destructive concrete testing
    August 29, 2017
    How best is it possible to assess the state of concrete in a road pavement, bridge deck or tunnel wall? One of the most reliable ways is to take a core of concrete from the structure to analyse and test in the laboratory. One downside to this method is that doing the test creates weak points in the structure that must then be repaired. Another is that the frequency of such cores cannot be too great – so it is possible that some problem areas will be missed. New technologies from the world of geospatial eng