A Super Decathlong airplane burst into flames during the Bandung Air Show at Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung West Java province, Indonesia on September 24, 2010. Residents and hundreds of schoolchildren including numerous elementary school students, who attended the airshow witnessed the crash and miracle escape of the pilot Alexander Supeli. He was then brought to a hospital in critical condition. Alexander Supeli, the only person aboard the single-engine aircraft, received intensive care at the hospital.
According to Saleh Sudrajat, a pilot at the scene, the lightweight, two-seater plane was flying too low when it came in for a landing. The pilot failed to control the aircraft at low altitude. It clipped its wing on the runway and span out of control. It hit, smashed into the ground and burst into flames.
A Super Decathlon burns after crashing during an air show on Friday, Sept. 24, 2010. The aircraft belonged to the Indonesian Aero Sports Federation.
The accident happened on the second day of the show to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Bandung, the provincial capital of West Java and Indonesia’s third largest city. Bandung is 120 kilometres southeast of the capital Jakarta.
Super Decathlon planes are used for flight training and aerobatic exercises.
Fellow pilot Saleh Sudrajat blamed the accident for human error.
The plane was exploded in a fireball while performing a low-altitude stunt at an air show in Indonesia. The accident happened on the second day of the show to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Bandung which is located 80 miles southeast of Jakarta.
Alexander Supeli was blamed for the accident by onlookers who claim he was ‘flying too low”. He had won second place at an international aerobatics championship in Australia in 1997.
None of the crowd of spectators on the ground was injured.
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