Video: Plane crash leaves couple hanging from wire

 

Video: Plane crash leaves couple hanging from wire

Africa - They dangled on their back 330 feet above the ground.

By Web Report

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Published: Sun 30 Sep 2018, 9:50 AM

Last updated: Sun 30 Sep 2018, 12:05 PM

An elderly couple was rescued in South Africa after they were left hanging from a zip wire when their plane crashed.
51-year-old rescuer Rob Thomas pulled the couple from the plane as they dangled on their back 330 feet above the ground at a national park.
The couple in their 60's was flying the Bat Hawk aircraft when the incident happened.
 "I volunteered as the Dope on a Rope to try and get them out and spoke to Peter on the radio and told him that I was coming down and just to not panic and stay totally still," Rob Thomas told the Daily Mail.
"I had no idea why the plane had not fallen to the ground but when I got there I saw that by a remarkable twist of luck the cable had been hooked under a large nut beneath the propeller.
"I was terrified the movements I was making may dislodge the aircraft because the wind had got up and I was being buffeted about so I just had to wait for the wind to die down to carry on. I got the door to the cockpit open and the pilot was nearest me with his wife on the far side and they both had their safety harnesses on and were lying on their backs in rocket launch position," he added.
"I think it is fair to say they were terrified as they have spent many many hours facing upwards as their plane was buffeted by the winds wondering if the next gust could be their very last one," he says.
"The pilot told me to rescue his wife first but I told him that was too dangerous as he was nearest me and that I could not get to her without getting him out first and that was the way forward."
"The aircraft was in an extremely precarious positon and I told them to unlock their seatbelts and trust me and passed the husband an extraction harness and attached it to a trolley on the zip wire. I told him to get out and join me outside the aircraft," he added.
A spokesman for the Pilanseberg National Park said, "Our Bat Hawk named Mafolodi flew into the Sun City zip line and the pilot Peter and his wife Mary were rescued and were not injured."
"They were just very very scared. Now they are safe we will rescue Mofalodi," he said.
The ZIP2000 ride at the entertainment resort of Sun City is one of the highest and fastest in the world and sends thrill seekers head first down a 1.25 mile wire at speeds of up to 100mph, according to the news report.


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