Four men died when two light aircraft collided in mid-air and crashed among homes in the Sydney suburb of Bass Hill on Wednesday (13 March).

One of the aircraft, a Piper Comanche, with three of the victims aboard, plunged into a small cottage occupied by a young mother and her three children. They all escaped without injury.

The other aircraft, a de Havilland Dove, with only the pilot on board, smashed into a local bakery.

Eye witnesses said the aircraft collided at an altitude of about 750 feet (230 metres) over Bankstown Airport in Sydney's western suburbs.