Killed in a plane crash ... Jacinda Twigg, 15.
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THE teenage ''angel'' of a country school and a veteran pilot who gave his time to help others have died in a plane crash near Horsham. The girl's mother was critically injured.
Friends of Jacinda Twigg, 15, will wear aqua blue, her favourite colour, in memory of the Nhill student who was a mentor to the younger children at her school and always went out of her way to help others.
Also killed in the crash in a paddock at Wallup was volunteer pilot Don Kernot, 69, formerly of Geelong.
Jacinda's mother, Julie-Anne, who was stuck in the wreckage for up to two hours, is in the Royal Melbourne Hospital with head, chest and rib injuries. Her husband, Len, who worked at the local waste station and the aerodrome, went to his wife's bedside. Mr Twigg said on his Facebook page: ''R.I.P. My Angel. Love you eternally.''
Jacinda, who had juvenile arthritis, was on her way back from treatment in Melbourne when the plane crashed on Monday night.
Mr Kernot had more than 40 years' experience in the air, was passionate about aviation and regularly donated his time and Piper Cherokee to Angel Flight, a charity that co-ordinates non-emergency flights to help country people get to medical services.
The news shattered the small town of Nhill, and students at the secondary school Jacinda attended were grief-stricken.
''At various time during the day we had between 40 and 70 students in tears,'' Nhill College principal Leonie Praetz said. ''They made cards, posters and wrote poems in memory of her. She was just a lovely, hard-working girl.'' Jacinda has two brothers, one at her school and one at primary school, and an 18-year-old sister.
Dean Miller, the chief executive of the Hindmarsh Shire Council, where Jacinda's father works, said the news had cut deep.
''It is a tragedy,'' he said. ''Nobody likes to hear of these things.'' He said everybody knew everybody else in Nhill and the family's sorrow would be shared.
An appeal has already been launched to help the family, and donations will be accepted at the National Australia Bank.
Angel Flight chief executive Bill Bristow said the girl and her mother had made 20 trips with Angel Flight over the past five years so that Jacinda could receive treatment for juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
He said the flight took off from Essendon Airport as scheduled on Monday afternoon, but the girl's father phoned Angel Flight about 6.30pm to say the flight had not arrived in Wallup.
A farmer called triple-0 about 6.30pm after seeing a low-flying plane and then hearing a loud crash. The wreckage was found two hours later
Source: http://www.theage.com.au
IT was a charity flight, a winged angel that for so long provided an essential lifeline to teenager Jacinda Twigg.
Fresh from yet another round of treatment for arthritis, the 15-year-old was heading home, exhausted, winging her way from Melbourne to her home town in rural Victoria - a six-hour trip she had made 20 times.
The aircraft never made it.
The single-engined light aircraft crashed in bad weather at Wallup, near Horsham in Victoria's west, on Monday night, killing Jacinda and pilot Don Kernot, 69, and leaving her mother critically ill in hospital.
Nhill College principal Leonie Praetz described Jacinda as a popular and active school member, despite the challenges she faced in life.
"She was a very hard-working student, a very kind and caring person, who looked after younger students and was very helpful to teachers," she said.
"She was involved in anything that was happening around the school."
The bubbly music lover - who played flute in the school orchestra - had participated in a drama festival just last week, and in June had enjoyed her band camp in Sydney.
Ms Praetz said her death had devastated the small school community.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators were yesterday trying to find out exactly how the experienced pilot came to grief.
The team of investigators are expected to spend up to four days examining the wreckage and interviewing witnesses.
Angel Flight founder and chief executive Bill Brinstow said he was shattered by the tragedy.
"I had moments last night of going, 'Gee, if I hadn't started Angel Flight this wouldn't have happened'," he said. "It's a dreadful, dreadful disaster." Mr Brinstow said Mr Kernot had been involved in 24 missions for the charity and had "proved very reliable".
Mr Kernot, a grandfather from Yarrawonga in northern Victoria, had 40 years' experience as a pilot and had bought the aircraft he died in especially to help people in need.
Close friend Kim Jarden said she last saw Mr Kernot waving to her as he taxied off the runway on Monday.
"He was a terrific bloke. If you needed a hand, he was there to help ... we need more people like him," Mrs Jarden said.
Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au
Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au
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