Father of girl killed in Portugal plane crash slams pilot

Father of girl killed in Portugal plane crash slams pilot

The first picture of the pilot instructor and a trainee who crash-landed a plane in Portugal have emerged as the last words to the control tower before the deadly incident have been revealed.
Local media is reporting the words that came over the radio were: 'Engine failure, it's going to land on the beach,' moments before a girl, eight, and a 56-year-old man were killed.
The two were pictured alongside a lawyer arriving at court today.
It comes after the devastated father of the eight-year-old girl killed when the plane made its crash landing accused the pilot of putting his own safety before the lives of his victims.
The grieving man said the pilot should have landed the Cessna-152 light aircraft in the sea and not on the sand of Sao Joao beach near Lisbon on Wednesday afternoon.

Witnesses described how the pilot of the plane which also killed a 56-year-old man during the emergency landing, was branded a 'murderer' by horrified onlookers.
Dozens of sunbathers ran for their lives - some into the sea - as the plane landed and skidded across the sand, where parents were playing with their children.
The instructor pupil refused to speak to reporters as they arrived at a court in Almada, across the River Tagus from the Portuguese capital, to be questioned by a prosecutor behind closed doors.
The pilot and instructor could be charged following the interview, with legal experts speculating on a possible charge of negligent homicide. It carries a prison sentence of up to 16 years.
Eyewitnesses today told of their horror as the plane came in to land on the beach

'The plane first hit the man, who had his back to it. Immediately after it lifted up and when it descended again it hit the child's head,' Filipe Janeira, 34, who was at the beach, told daily Jornal de Noticias.
The girl was with her parents, who were unhurt, and was on her way to take a swim when she was hit. She was named this morning as Sofia.
Her furious father has said he wants to make it his life's mission to make sure the pilot never flies again.
He admitted to wanting to 'punch' the pilot after the tragedy as he recalled the moment he saw his little girl being hit.
And he appealed to the authorities to ban light aircraft from flying over beaches during an impassioned TV address.

The Portuguese national, who didn't give his name and identified his daughter only as Sofia, spoke out after interrupting a live TV report on the tragedy.
He let rip as it emerged the 'experienced' pilot, who was giving a younger man flying lessons, could face a five-year prison sentence if convicted on gross negligence manslaughter charges.
Local reports said the 56-year-old was trying to land on a secluded beach near Sao Joao after engine failure five minutes into their flight - but was unable to reach it in time.
The unnamed pilot and his pupil, both confirmed today as Portuguese, were due in court this morning after being questioned by police.

The judicial investigation is expected to focus on whether the pilot deliberately made a beach instead of a sea landing - putting sunbathers at unnecessary risk - or was unable to make it to the water which experts have said would have been potentially more dangerous for him but safer for sunbathers.
Sofia's father told Portuguese station TVI 24 after identifying himself as her grieving father when he interrupted a live broadcast from Sao Joao beach: 'We were on the beach at low tide where the water drains from the lake.
'I was with my brother-in-law trying to explain to my two daughters and my nephews what a rip-tide is and how it forms. One of my nephews pointed out the plane which was flying low by the sea wall.
'I told Sofia, who died, to run behind me, and she ran as fast as she could.
'When I saw the other children were safe and when I looked round to help Sofia, I saw her being hit.
'I went up to the man who was piloting the plane and he told me he had lost control of the aircraft. I could have punched him, I had that right, but I didn't do it.'

Insisting the pilot had flown in a straight line from the sea wall, he added: 'My opinion is that that man wanted to land the plane without any concern for others. He's suffering, I'm sure, but his main worry was landing safely.'
He also told the TV channel: 'First I want to make sure my family, my wife and my other daughter, are okay. Second I want to bury my daughter.
'Third, I want to make sure that man never flies again, and my fourth objective is to get these planes banned from flying over beaches.'