The pilot of a Jabiru has walked away unharmed after the ultralight aircraft he was in had an engine failure and was forced to carry out an emergency landing into a paddock near Bairnsdale in eastern Victoria

"The pilot realised he was not going to make it over some nearby powerlines so he tried to fly under them ...and got caught on an optical cable causing it to crash"

The Jabiru was consumed by fire after ground impact

Renowned author^* and highly respected aviator and journalist - 76-year-old Richard Bach - has been seriously injured when the SeaRey amphibian homebuilt aircraft he was in snagged powerlines on approach to a private airstrip on the island of San Juan in USA's Washington State

"The plane landed upside down in the grass with the seriously injured 76-year-old Eastsound resident stuck hanging upside down in his harness in the heavily damaged plane"

^*Author of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" a #1 best seller in the 1970's