Diners horrified as plane crashes in front of hotel in Peterborough

sibsoninn.com

Diners at a hotel in Peterborough looked on in horror as a light aircraft clipped power lines and crashed in front of them.

The plane nose-dived to the ground just short of Sibson Airfield after losing a wing when it hit two electricity pylons over the A1.

The Cambridgeshire police have confirmed the pilot was killed in the crash

The accident happened just 200 yards from the Sibson Inn Hotel, and its business manager Mark Prime was informed of the crash by a guest.

He told Peterborough Today: 'We were alerted by a diner who saw the crash. The hotel manager called the airfield who had already called the ambulance. The air ambulance was on the scene pretty quickly.

'Diners saw the plane clip the cable and they thought they saw the wing come off. The plane came down in a hedge about 200 yards south of the hotel. There was no fire or smoke.

'We get planes coming by us all day long. They have to manoeuvre over the pylons and look like they are flying pretty close. It's one of the hazards you have to deal with when you land.'

The hotel's manager, Simon Black, is an amateur pilot and describes the pylons as 'hazardous'.
He said: 'The diners ran in shouting that a plane had dropped out of the sky. You can see where the plane hit the cable.

'As a student at the airfield I hated flying across those pylons because they are so tall.

'The top cable is a single strand and is especially difficult to see in bright sunshine. The pilot would have been flying into the sun.

'It's very easy to get it wrong. I am surprised they hadn't wrapped it in red and white tape to make it more visible.'