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A Tasmania Police Inspector severely burnt in a light plane crash two months ago will spend Christmas at home, after what has been described as an "incredible" recovery.
Key points:
- Darren Hopkins received burns to 30 per cent of his body in the October light aircraft crash
- The pilot said the cabin of his plane was engulfed in flames after a battery overcharged
- Luckily, an emergency nurse lived at the property where he landed and treated him before rescuers arrived
Darren Hopkins, 51, was flying his single-engine plane solo around the Tamar River in the state's north on October 21, when a fire broke out in the cockpit mid flight and he was forced to make an emergency landing on the Kilby family's Westwood farm, near Hagley.
Inspector Hopkins received burns to 30 per cent of his body, and has spent the past two months recovering in the Royal Hobart Hospital Burns Unit.
He will be released next week, but is expected to take at least another year to make a full recovery.
On Friday, Inspector Hopkins was reunited with the family whose paddock he crashed into and has recounted what happened on his doomed flight.
"An alarm sounded saying the battery was overcharging, which was the first I learned that something was wrong," Inspector Hopkins said in the Tasmania Police Facebook post.
"Minutes after that, I saw flames coming through the passenger side floor and that engulfed the cabin to the point I couldn't see out of the aircraft.
"I must admit I was pretty scared at that point as I was worried I was going to be burned inside the cockpit even before I landed, or I was going to crash anyway as I couldn't see where I was going.
"My hands and arms were burning at that point. I opened the cockpit door and I spotted the paddock which looked like a good spot to land."
Once he touched down, he found a cattle trough to sit in.
Emergency nurse hears cry for help
As luck would have it, the property was owned by Toni Kilby, who is an emergency nurse at the Launceston General Hospital.
She was in the family's backyard with her daughter Meg, 10, when they heard Inspector Hopkins call for help.
"I was in the right place at the right time," Mrs Kilby said.
"I could see it was a plane and I could see Darren waving in the corner of the paddock yelling for help about 300 metres away … I called triple-0 and the ambulance and fire brigade were on the way before I even pulled up.
"We doused him for half an hour of ice cold water before he got to hospital, which was a big help."
'He's stuck with us now'
Mrs Kilby said Inspector Hopkins was "family now".
"Someone lands in our paddock, they automatically become family, so he's stuck with us now," she said.
"Not many people would have survived, it really is amazing."
Inspector Hopkins thanked emergency services, medical staff and others who have helped him.
"I'd like to thank the Kilbys for all their assistance and I am just very lucky that Toni is an emergency nurse and was able to assist me at the scene until emergency services arrived," he said.
Community members have posted their well wishes for Inspector Hokpins on social media.
"He could not of landed in a better place! Such lovely caring people. Well done team Kilby," Mandy Walters said.
"Good news Darren, have a wonderful Christmas with your family," Bob and Jackie Marshall posted.
Topics: accidents---other, air-transport, disasters-and-accidents, hagley-7292
First posted