Moments of authentic terror yesterday morning in Barbianello where an ultralight crashed. There were a few minutes left before midday and the aircraft that left Piacenza had to reach Casteggio. In the air, however, the small plane suffered engine failure. Under the eyes of the pilot, Silvano Pesci, 57 years old, was driving along the provincial road between Casanova Lonati and Pinarolo Po. The man was so skilled that he managed to steer the vehicle until an emergency landing in a field on the side of the road.
The pilot quickly left the controls and fell from 50 meters when the cabin was filled with smoke. Then the ultralight caught fire. The causes of the failure are not yet known. The firefighters and the Carabinieri of the Stradella Company are working to understand what happened.
Rescued by motorists passing by on the provincial road, Pesci was immediately entrusted to the care of the 118 rescuers who intervened with medical vehicles and ambulances. Transported to San Matteo, the 57-year-old suffered injuries to his nose and face, some bruises and intoxication caused by smoking. The firefighters put out the fire which did not break out because the field, with its now blond ears, has the ground very wet from the rains of the last few days.
The mud made the pilot’s fall lighter and also prevented the fire from becoming more widespread. The flames in fact did not have time to spread, involving the crops, if not in a minimal part. Completely destroyed instead the ultralight, whose model cannot even be identified.
But Silvano Pesci is a great motor enthusiast. His social networks are full of photos showing him next to a plane or a sports car. In several images the man also showed himself in the cockpit with a little girl, perhaps as passionate as him. Due to a series of coincidences, however, the little girl was not there yesterday and she was spared the trauma of those interminable minutes in which the 57-year-old found himself steering the aircraft until an emergency landing to avoid a massacre.
