'IT'S A MIRACLE'
Bournemouth Air Show crash: Dramatic moment plane ditches into water & sinks as wing walker and pilot scream for help
THIS is the dramatic moment a plane crashes into the water and sinks in just a "minute" as the wing walker and pilot scream for help.
The shocking crash unfolded in front of hundreds of shocked witnesses at Bournemouth Air Festival last night - with onlookers saying it was a "miracle" that the pair survived.
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Rescue crews had rushed into the water to pull the pilot and wing walker from the fast-sinking aircraft after the terrifying crash.
And CCTV shows the moment the small aircraft hits the water before flipping over in the Sandbanks area of Poole Harbour.
In the video, a person can be seen witnessing the crash from a car park and apparently making a phone call.
Just after the crash, two small boats passed by the plane, the clip shows.
Another video shows the pilot and wing walker screaming for help as they were rescued from the plane.
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An eyewitness told The Sun: "It landed only about 5m away from other boats and the concrete harbour, it was incredibly lucky.
"The wing walker was still attached to the top of the plane when it went down and I saw her brace as it hit the water. She was screaming as it crashed."
Dorset Police said they were called at 3.50pm yesterday and two people on board were treated for minor injuries after being rescued.
Rescuer Libby Chambers 43, a housewife from Wareham, was on a dinghy 20ft from where the plane crashed into the water.
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She said it was "an absolute miracle" that nobody was seriously hurt in the crash.
Mrs Chambers and her husband Alan rushed towards the wreckage where the pilot, described as a man in his 50s, exited the cockpit.
The pilot then extricated the winglady, a woman in her 20s, who was "screaming in shock".
They helped them onto their small dinghy before they were transferred onto a larger RIB and taken to the nearby pontoon for medical assistance.
Libby said: "We were in the smallest dinghy there and the plane hit the water 20ft from us.
"The pilot was amazing. I'm not sure how he managed to avoid the rocks and other boats. It would have been horrific otherwise.
'SCREAMING IN SHOCK'
"We got to the wreckage within seconds and the pilot had got himself and extricated the winglady from their cockpit.
"We lifted them onto the dinghy. She was screaming in shock but he was so calm and composed, although you could tell he was also shaken up.
"He was hugging his winglady. I think she must have been in her 20s and he was maybe in his 50s.
"There was no room in our dinghy with us and our children so they were moved onto a larger RIB and taken to the pontoon.
"The plane sank within a minute.
"It's an absolute miracle that no one was hurt."
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The wreckage of the biplane was recovered from Poole Harbour today.
A crane was used to lift it intact from the sea-bed on to a recovery vessel at 4pm today while crowds watched on from the bank of the Haven Hotel, just 50ft from where the aircraft entered the water.
At 9am today, two divers were warned by police after heading into the water to look at the wreckage.
After the incident, flying at Bournemouth Air Festival was suspended, but the site remained open and the programme is expected to continue today.
Jason Hall, 40, a builder from Hamworthy, was on a yacht yards from where the Tiger Moth plane ditched into the sea.
He said the pilot had hugged the coastline looking for somewhere to drop the plane which was suffering engine failure.
The pilot crash-landed it into a bit of water the ";size of a tennis court" in an area where there were 100 boats bunched together.
He and the winglady managed to escape the cockpit before a nearby dinghy that was on the scene in seconds pulled them out of the water.
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He said: "The pilot is a hero. You could see he was hugging the coastline looking for somewhere to ditch the plane safely.
"There must have been 100 boats tightly packed together and he dropped it into a space the size of a tennis court.
"I thought he was going to hit the side of our yacht before he manoeuvred at the last second.
"The winglady was already in the plane when they entered the water as she would never have survived the impact of the plane flipping over.
"I would say the plane was 50ft above us when it dropped. There were dinghies on the scene within seconds and the crew managed to get themselves out of the cockpit.
"They were pulled into a dinghy. It's a miracle no one was killed."
Dorset Police said in a statement: "We received a report at 3.50pm on Saturday 4 September 2021 that a small aircraft had crashed into the water in the Sandbanks area of Poole Harbour.
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"The aircraft was part of the Bournemouth Air Festival flight schedule with two people reported to be onboard.
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"Both occupants have been rescued and are reported to have sustained minor injuries. They are receiving treatment by the ambulance service.
"An investigation is underway and we would please ask members of the public to avoid the area and harbour to allow emergency services to deal with the incident. A police cordon is currently in place."
Bournemouth Air Festival plane which crashed during air festival pulled from sea after wreckage recovered
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