On the nose: plane's narrow escape

Let's overlook the punnish headline and the nonsensical latter part - on second thought, let's not. It ended up on it's nose. On the nose? Geddit? Heeyuk, heeyuk, I crack me up. Not. The plane's narrow escape? It crashed. It didn't escape anything. The occupants had a narrow escape, but the plane is Cessna McNuggets now. How is that an escape? Let's move on.

Air safety officials were investigating the incident, which occurred near a control tower at about 3.50pm, police said.

That's good. ATSB on the ball. Nice work. Professionals, are they.

Hang on;

An airport spokesman said pilot error was to blame.

Wait a minute - don't bother. Some tool from the Bankstown Airport Corporation has already determined the cause. Let's back up a bit.

"They just said they had an engine failure."

Huh? Wait a minute, I'm confused.

Look, maybe it was pilot error, I'm not ruling it out, but can we at least give these blokes (who are probably mortified by the events as it is) the benefit of the doubt before pointing the finger at them and pulling out that hoary old 'pilot error' chestnut? If the engine failed, it's not like the pilot can pull over and call the NRMA.

Good ole CLS, resting ignobly on some poor fellers bonnet (I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he tells his insurance agent this,) covered in AFF foam. I've flown her before, not a bad old girl, the fact the occupants got out without a scratch a testament to the strength of the venerable Cessna 172.