Plane hangs upside down after catching on power lines

An afternoon flight in a light aircraft turned into a life or death ordeal for a retired couple when their plane got entangled in high-voltage power lines in Germany.

A 65-year-old man and his wife, aged 63, were suspended from the 380,000 volt cables for nearly three hours upside down with aviation fuel pouring over them and dangerously close to the hot engine. Rescue officials were worried that increasingly high winds, in the countryside near Ulm, would hurl the plane 80 feet to the ground below.



The aircraft had been approaching the landing field at Durach when the pilot made an error and clipped the high-tension cables on his way in. The right landing wheel got caught and flipped the plane over on to its back.

"The occupants remained in radio contact with the ground throughout but you can imagine that their psychological condition worsened as the clock ticked on," said a police spokesman.



"We considered a helicopter rescue but it was ruled out because the downdraft of the rotors would have sent the plane crashing to the ground. There was fuel leaking everywhere. It was a tense situation."

In the end, a specialist crane weighing over 130 tons was trucked in and elevated level to the aircraft so firemen could cut the couple free. The couple, who live in the countryside near Munich, were treated at a local hospital for shock after their ordeal on Sunday before being released.