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The pilot who had a lucky escape after landing in a sheep paddock in Hamilton district won't be charged, police say.
Hamilton police Acting Sergeant Chris Thomson said the pilot and passenger were lucky to be alive and police were not investigating at this stage.
But he said the Civil Aviation Safety Authority had been notified of the light aircraft crash.
Earlier: Two people were lucky to walk away virtually unscathed after their rare vintage plane ran out of fuel and crashed in a paddock at Tarrington on Friday.
The pilot had just paid the deposit for a 1935 Miles Falcon aircraft and was flying it from Lilydale to Nelson when it ran out of fuel and attempted to land in a paddock about 5.30pm on Friday.
Sergeant Pam Nix, of Hamilton police, said the pilot was on his way to Hamilton airport to refuel when he had to attempt and emergency landing in a paddock.
The front wheel of the plane clipped the top of a wire fence around a new tree plantation and nose-dived into the paddock.
She said the plantation trees were only one-metre high.
Sergeant Nix said the pair were able to walk away without injury but the impact of the crash broke the plane's prop, damaged the wheel, undercarriage and front propellers.
"They were incredibly lucky. Everybody walked away safe," she said.
"If they hadn't clipped the fence they would have landed safely."
She said the pilot was an aircraft engineer and the timber plane would be repairable but she didn't know how much that would cost.
The incident is being investigated by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
Sergeant Nix said police would also be making enquiries about whether the flight had breached any COVID-19 stay-at-home laws.
She said she had noticed that the community in Hamilton had started to become complacent about abiding by the COVID-19 laws.
Sergeant Nix said that since this week's announcement that the restrictions would be in place in Victoria for at least another four weeks, more people were on the roads and in the shops.
She said the car park at Bunnings was full today compared to two weeks ago.
She reminded people to adhere to stage 3 restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus during the worldwide pandemic despite the number of new cases dropping.
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