Street kids save pilot after crash
By Douglas Carew

A light plane flying a banner advertising the start of the Cape to Rio yacht race crashed on Green Point Common on Saturday.

The red and white single-engined Piper Pawnee had been flying over the city when its engine apparently cut out, forcing the pilot to attempt a crash landing on a field. But the plane slammed into a row of wooden poles and two street kids pulled the seriously injured 45-year-old pilot from the mangled wreck.

Kobus Odendaal and Mornay Solomons, who live on the streets, were walking past Hamilton's Rugby Club about 3.30pm when the plane crashed a few hundred metres from Green Point stadium where thousands of Cape minstrels were taking part in their annual championships.

"The plane had been circling above the city and then it cut out above us and crashed into the ground," Solomons said.

The teenagers rushed to pull the pilot from the wreckage.

"The pilot was lying half out of the cockpit and moaning, with blood coming from his mouth," Odendaal said, pointing to blood stains on his clothing.

Solomons said fuel was leaking from the wreckage. "It even got on my shoe. So we got the pilot out of there as quick as possible because we were worried the plane was going to explode."

The pilot was taken to the Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital where his condition was described as serious.