Woman's close call after Melb plane crash

Herta Nebert survived a fiery plane crash into her Melbourne house - but now she's worried about her cat.

The Chelsea woman was happy to have escaped without injury but was more concerned about her cat, which she had to leave behind after the homemade light plane hit her house on Tuesday afternoon.

"I'm missing my pussy cat," Mrs Nebert told Fairfax Radio.

"She would be hiding somewhere terrified."

Mrs Nebert was watching television in her kitchen when the crash blast knocked her down and blew out the windows.

She said she was just glad to be alive after the close call.

Local office worker Megan Johnston rushed to the house after hearing the crash and asked a shocked Mrs Nebert if there was anyone inside the house.

She went inside to try to find the cat but had no luck.

"I just kept going up and down the stairs trying to locate her cat, but I couldn't stay up there for long because of the smoke," she said.

A man in his late 70s died after his homemade plane nosedived towards the beachside suburb, hitting Mrs Nebert's house and bursting into flames.

Firefighters said he had bravely steered his plane away from a busy shopping strip and nearby children's park.

The man had taken off from Moorabbin Airport and was due to return there later in the day.