A LIGHT plane has crash-landed into a woman's backyard in Sydney's south west.

The plane, carrying a pilot and student, took off from Camden airport shortly before the crash.

Witness Edna Watson said she was hanging the washing on the line at her home in Kirkham, Camden at 8.30am when she saw the plane flying erratically.



”It was tilting from side to side and really low, ‘’ said Mrs Watson.



”The plane was wobbling as it flew over the top of me before crashing into our backyard through two fences.



”I am still shaking now,’’ she said.



Paramedics treated the 62-year-old male pilot for lower back pain and his 34-year-old male passenger for minor injuries before conveying them to nearby Campbelltown Hospital.

Jayden Lonergan, 12, and his 8-year-old brother Blake saw the plane hit the ground as they stood on the back porch of their home next door.

"I saw the plane come down and hit the ground and just skid and then go through our next door neighbour's fence and then go through our fence," Jayden said.

"I just couldn't believe what I saw."

The brothers ran to tell their father Mark Lonergan who was working on the computer, and had heard a plane in distress.

"Normally you hear aeroplane engines, but this plane, its sound, made you feel a bit ill because it sounded as though it was close and in difficulty," Mr Lonergan said.

"I got up straight away and ran into the backyard and saw it lying across our fenceline basically intact except it didn't appear to have any landing wheels out."

He said two men were getting out of the plane, and appeared virtually unscathed.

Mr Lonergan approached the men and asked them if they were injured, they said no, but warned him there was about 400 litres of fuel still onboard.

The men told him that the plane ran into difficulty shortly after leaving Camden Airport, about 2km away.

"I understand they were taking part in a training exercise where the motor was turned off and it just didn't restart."

The plane started descending toward the semi-rural properties in the Camden region.

It first hit the ground in the backyard of Mrs Watson, Mr Lonergan's neighbour, losing a parts of its fuselage as it careered forward, then slowing as it ploughed through the fence and coming to rest in a ditch between the properties.

"There was no one seriously injured and no property really damaged, everyone gets to go home and celebrate Christmas, which is good," Mr Lonegran said.

Aviation authorities are investigating the cause of the accident.

A spokeswoman for Camden Airport said she was aware of the incident but could not confirm that the plane had taken off from the airport.

Police are at the scene and continue to investigate the incident.







Originally published as Plane crashes in backyard