Aveley Road, Upminster plane crash: Pilot rescued by men

The Metropolitan Police says it was called to Aveley Road, Upminster, today (September 7), after reports of a “light aircraft” that crashed at 1.08pm.

A man, reported to be a passenger on the plane, was taken to a major trauma centre at hospital for treatment.

His condition is not known at this time, the Metropolitan Police said.

However the crash itself happened at Belhus Country Park, and one eyewitness Alex Sarzi-Sartori, feared for a split second he’d have to run as he saw the plane heading his way.

Mr Alex Sarzi-Sartori was at the West Essex Bowmen archery club by the park at the time, when he saw a plane flying low in the corner of his eye.

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He said: “It was dead quiet. In my head I jokingly thought ‘do they make electric planes now’?

“I saw the propellers weren’t actually moving and I thought ‘hang on a minute – that’s trying to land’.

“It was going away from us for most of the time and then it started turning around and I realised it was actually aiming for a field to land.”

A covered look at the crash site (Image: Alex Sarzi-Sartori)

Thinking on his feet, he called 999 to get emergency services at the scene.

But then when he went up close to the crash site, he claims he saw that the propeller "swung around" and "pinned" the pilot to his seat.

One man, Mark Turner, checked on the man's condition and made sure to help him.

However alarm bells rang as fuel appeared to be leaking after the crash.

Belhus Country Park (Image: Street View)

Mr Sarzi-Sartori added: “There was fuel gushing out in big quantities so we had to move him because we thought it could go up in flames. It was quite shocking.”

Fortunately someone at the scene allegedly had prior military training and kept "a cool head" as they managed the rescue.

Mr Sarzi-Sartori said: "It was a bit surreal. He was aiming for us at some point and for a split second I though at one point we’re going to have to run. But then all of a sudden it sort of went down."

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is investigating into the crash.

A AAIB spokesperson said: “We are aware of the accident. We will be deploying inspectors to the scene.”