THE BALLOON MAN

Plane Hits Ferris Wheel: No Injuries

By Russ Niles,

Editor-in-Chieffrom: AVweb.com "Wold's Premier Independent Aviation News Resource"October 1, 2011The 52-year-old Australian pilot has answered the obvious question. Paul Cox told rescuers he didn't see the ferris wheel. "The next thing I knew, I was stopped inside the Ferris wheel," he said. "I had no idea for a few minutes and I was just hoping no one got hurt." He's likely to face some more probing inquiries from Australian authorities in coming days, such as why he was flying less than 50 feet above a country fair in the small coastal community of Old Bar, about 220 miles north Sydney on Friday when the Cheetah S200 (a type our limited research didn't find) he was flying with his 32-year-old passenger hit the smallish, as ferris wheels go, carnival ride. Neither the plane's occupants nor the five children on the ride were hurt at all but the Cheetah will never be the same and the ferris wheel will need some work. "Thankfully, everyone was taken down and were able to walk away from it," local firefighter Ben Shepherd said.