A father is dead and his five-year-old daughter is fighting for her life in hospital after the ultralight plane he was flying crashed into a home in Tyabb.
Peter Doutch, a volunteer with the State Emergency Service’s Frankston unit, was flying his ultralight plane in Tyabb about 5pm on Sunday before it clipped the roof of a home on Seaview Road.
The plane crashed only minutes after it had taken off from the nearby Tyabb Airport, a police spokeswoman confirmed.
Several neighbours said they saw the ultralight plane, known as a trike, come in to land at the airport on Sunday, but it was far off course and appeared to be in trouble.
“It was spitting and coughing like it was running out of fuel,” said Rob Boer, who witnessed the crash.
“It wasn’t lined up with the runway. It was a couple of hundred metres off the line they usually come in on, so we knew something was wrong straight away.’’
The plane clipped the roof of Mr Boer’s next-door neighbour’s house before it flipped and smashed into the side of the home.
Police and paramedics were called about 5.25pm as neighbours ran to help.
Mr Boer said his neighbour helped pulled a girl from the wreckage, but the pilot appeared to have already died.
The girl’s helmet had been knocked off in the impact, he said.
‘‘She was just crying the whole time,’’ he said. ‘‘She didn’t look very good at all.’’
Paramedics treated the girl at the scene before she was airlifted to the Royal Children’s Hospital in a critical condition, an Ambulance Victoria spokesman said.
Mr Doutch, 44, of Frankston, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said no one was inside the Tyabb house when the crash happened. Mr Boer said the homeowners had been saying good-bye to their children minutes before the crash.
SES spokeswoman Kathryn Gould said the SES organised a meeting on Sunday night to tell members of the Frankston unit about Mr Doutch’s death.
Facebook tributes have started flowing, with many friends writing “Rest In Peace” on Mr Doutch’s page.
The Peninsula Aero Club, which operates from Tyabb Airport, declined to comment on the crash.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has been notified and police are preparing a report for the coroner.
