Pilot killed as copter hits powerlines

Published on Tuesday 8 July 2008 22:16

A SCOTTISH pilot died instantly when his helicopter struck power lines and burst into flames.

Antony Zani, 27, was flying the aircraft with a Russian student when it hit the lines and crash-landed in California.

Mr Zani was believed to have been teaching night-flying when the pair were killed at about 12:20am last Friday.

The helicopter landed on a road, but the occupants could not be saved. The Schweizer 269 craft is understood to have taken off from Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose.

Mr Zani had moved to the United States with his girlfriend, Jane Sarginson, three years ago. The couple had celebrated their first wedding anniversary just days before the accident.

In Ballater his father, Bruno, said yesterday: "My son was very special. He was celebrating his first anniversary. He was such a friendly guy, someone you never forgot if you met him once. Some of his friends were over visiting and were the ones who told me what happened. I couldn't bear telling my wife and daughter."