A 63-year-old pilot who survived a crash-landing at Muchea, near Perth, has described the moments he realised his home-built aircraft would not make it back to the airstrip.
Thomas Murfett was doing practice circuits on Saturday morning with a friend before a planned flight to Bunbury in the RV-6A he built 30 years ago. His wife, Melanie, said the pair sensed something wrong with the aircraft on the second circuit, so Murfett circled back to find somewhere to land.
"When he knew he wasn't going to make the runway, he started worrying about people on the ground as he was right next to the Brand Highway," she said.
As the plane began to stall, Murfett crash-landed in a paddock. He told his wife there was little time to think. "Your body just takes over and you just do what you can."
Murfett, who suffered multiple broken bones, was described by his wife as having had a lucky escape.