Two men walk away from plane crash in regional Victoria

A pilot in his 70s and his male passenger have walked away from a light plane crash in Wangaratta in northeastern Victoria this morning.

Engine failure caused the ultra-light plane to crash from three metres in the air when taking-off from Wangaratta Airport about 10.30am as part of Wangaratta Aero Club's open day.

Passenger Andrew Haring, who accompanied Geelong-based pilot John Spronken, told 9NEWS the accident happened in “a split second”.

“We left the ground and got off the ground and the plane just seemed to veer left and the wing hit the ground and so did we,” Mr Haring said.

“The whole thing just sort of fell out of the sky and slid along the ground for about 30 metres”.

While Mr Haring and Mr Spronken managed to walk away from the wreckage, the plane was destroyed when it burst into flames and caused a grassfire.

Mr Haring said he felt “pretty lucky” to survive the potentially fatal crash.

“Considering it was my second flight, pretty lucky! Don't think I'll be going up there in a hurry!”