A trainee pilot who was thrown from the wreckage of a plane crash, rushed to the rescue of his flight instructor as flames engulfed the aircraft, authorities say.
Trainee pilot Ben Wheeler and flight instructor Catherine Fitzsimons had been practicing take-offs and landings in the four-seater Cirrus SR-22 when the plane crashed at Orange Airport at about 7:00pm Tuesday night.
Commander of the Central West police district, Superintendent Chris Taylor, said Mr Wheeler, 57, was thrown from the plane on impact and helped to pull Ms Fitzsimons, 55, from the wreckage.
Superintendent Taylor said it was "very lucky" that the Toll Rescue Helicopter crew, based at the airport, were in their hangar 300 metres away at the time of the accident and were able to respond immediately.
He also said the low altitude of the plane helped the pair's chance of survival.
"It is very lucky," Superintendent Chris Taylor said.
"Any survival from any plane plane crash is very lucky."
Superintendent Taylor said both Mr Wheeler and Ms Fitzsimons had been flown to Royal North Shore Hospital and were in a serious but stable condition.
"Their condition is not life-threatening which is very good news."
Both suffered burns to their arms, legs and scalp.
"They were just coming in to land and I'm not sure whether they had touched the tarmac or were about to, so the plan was not of a high altitude which would have gone in favour of the two occupants," he said.
"It was a very unfortunate incident in some ways they're very fortunate that the crew, that the response from all the agencies was excellent."
The aircraft was not so fortunate.
"Nothing could be done to save the plane, it was destroyed," Superintendent Taylor said.
Investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) arrived on Thursday to examine the area.
Mr Wheeler, from Orange, is the owner of the plane, while Catherine Fitzsimons was the instructor on board and works for flight training organisation, Ward Air, which is based in Bathurst.
The four-seater was doing circuits and testing the plane when it crashed on the northern side of the runway and burst into flames on impact.
The plane wreckage is not expected to be moved from the site for several days and an exclusion zone has been set up around the scene.
A 150-metre exclusion zone has been placed around the site of the crash.
The Orange Airport is operating as normal, and there are no interruptions to scheduled flights.
