Daniel Price was seated at a sta
ll booth only three metres in front of the impact zone when a plane crashed into a ferris wheel at Old Bar on Saturday morning.
“I was looking around at the clouds, thinking it was going to be a very quiet day, when the windscreen of the plane landed on my feet,” Mr Price said.
“I then dove under a truck for cover. It was like everything happened so fast but time stood still.
“Fuel was pouring down on me — everywhere — it was a real nightmare.”
The terrifying ordeal, which occurred just after 10am, left the pilot, a 53-year-old Taree man, and the passenger, a 32-year-old Queensland man, in the light Cheetah S200 plane, dangling in the tangled wreckage until emergency services and police could winch them to safety.
Two young children were also left with their lives on edge, stranded in one of the ferris wheel’s carriages only metres from where the plane crashed.
Although uninjured, the nine-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl appeared extremely distressed, terrified and begging for help, witness Mr Price said.
A stallholder at the fair, Mr Price said it was a miracle no one was seriously injured and, had the accident happened only minutes later, the outcome could have been deadly.
“This sort of thing just doesn’t happen and for no one to be hurt, let alone killed, is just amazing,” he said.
“Luckily the fair was only just opening for the day.
“Imagine if the ferris wheel was busier and the day was in full swing with all the holidaymakers and locals?
“Then again, you don’t really want to imagine it, do you — a total disaster.”
Mr Price said the fair almost came to a halt, with police determining the site too dangerous to have operations continue.
“They pretty much closed most areas down for safety concerns,” Mr Price said.
“With fuel everywhere and generators being used, it wasn’t safe to operate. The ferris wheel was leaning, too.”
The children were removed from the ferris wheel about 11.30am, police said.
The pilot and his passenger were winched from the plane about 12.45pm.
A crane was used to extract the plane from the ferris wheel.
Air Safety investigators have been examining the circumstances surrounding the crash.
