The incident occurred late afternoon on Tuesday
A light aircraft reportedly turned “upside down” at Barton Aerodrome in Greater Manchester yesterday (April 29), leaving one passenger in critical condition.
Emergency responders were called out to the scene around 5.30pm, with a firefighter telling The Bolton News: “The plane is said to be upside down. Two people are seriously injured. Fuel is leaking, and there is debris around the area.”
Talking to Manchester Evening News, a witness revealed: “The plane taxied down the runway and upon reaching the end of the runway there was a loud pop sound and the engine cut-off.
“It continued to coast at a really low altitude before the wing struck the ground on one side. It then rolled over completely upside down and the plane snapped into two pieces.”
Greater Manchester Police went on to reveal that one of the men pulled from the wreckage suffered “life-threatening injuries”, while a second is dealing with “potentially life-changing injuries”.
They were both taken via road ambulance to Salford Royal Hospital.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue shared in a statement: “At around 5.30pm today three fire engines from across Greater Manchester and the technical response unit attended an aircraft crash at Barton Aerodrome, Eccles. Firefighters arrived quickly and assisted Greater Manchester Police, North West Ambulance Service and the airport fire service in making the area safe and helping two casualties out of the aircraft.
“Both casualties were transferred into the care of North West Ambulance Service and transferred to Salford Royal Hospital. Crews were in attendance for roughly one hour.”
Formerly known as City Airport Manchester, Barton Aerodrome was the UK’s first purpose-built municipal airport.
Consisting of four grassy runways, the airfield welcomes commercial, private, military, police and air ambulance helicopters outside of its fixed-wing, daytime operating hours.
Manchester Airport uses it as a reliever destination, too.
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