World loss log: 15 to 28 September 2009

Late reports

10.9, mid air collision, fatality

US: two small aircraft collided in mid-air about 40 miles south of Phoenix, sending one crashing to the ground and killing a student pilot from China who was training to fly commercial aircraft. The single-engine Cessna 150 crashed after the collision above the town of Coolidge. The second student on board was airlifted to a hospital with non life-threatening injuries. The pilot of the other aircraft, a single-engine Piper Cherokee, landed the craft safely in a nearby field. Neither the student nor the instructor on board was injured. The Cessna, on its way to Tucson from Glendale, crashed upside down in a dirt field within the city limits without its right wing or tail. An eye witness described how one of the two men on board the Cessna jumped to his death from the aircraft when it was about 75 feet from the ground. The two students on board the Cessna were classmates and friends from China who were training to be airline pilots. Inspectors with the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.