Plane Crash north of Melbourne

[Gnarly Gnu]

You would often need room for more than one pax, I guess.

For sure, I wasn't thinking ultralight!

 

 

[Jaba-who]

Wondered that myself GG

 

All those criteria stated above could be covered with an experimental category aircraft. Like say my jabiru 430 for instance. 4 seats vh registered flying out of an international airport.

 

But don't know whether they would accept It though.

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

ATSB has just posted the "Preliminary Report".

 

After reading it, I suspect AF is going to come in for a good deal of scrutiny, based on the topics listed to be investigated for the final report.

 

 

[turboplanner]

See "Aircraft Crash N0rth of Melbourne thread David - quite a lot has been added to it since the report came out.

 

The thread was split with pretty much the same name.

 

Also the crash was about half way to Adelaide so Victorians would more likely refer to it as west of Melbourne.

 

 

[naremman]

ATSB has just posted the "Preliminary Report".After reading it, I suspect AF is going to come in for a good deal of scrutiny, based on the topics listed to be investigated for the final report.

It is inevitable that Angel Flight will come under scrutiny, and that need not be seen in an adverse sense. There is no organization of merit that will not benefit from external objective assessement. As a Volunteer Ambulance Officer with St John Ambulance WA , I have observed the fair degree of scrutiny that was placed on that organization following the Four Corners program just over two years ago. What was a fundamentally sound organization, has taken the scrutiny, incurred a few bruises, but has grown and got its perpective more finely tuned through the process. I am confident that Angel Flight will have a not dissimilar experience.

 

I am also an Angel Flight pilot, and was scheduled to conduct an Angel Flight from Jandakot to a WA Wheatbelt town last Friday. Weather was an issue to be considered, and AF had phoned me on the preceeding day stressing the need to make safety as an imperative, something I appreciated, in addition my intent to make it to be a very old pilot.

 

What ocurred on the flight date was a succession of a number of quirks of fate. Our Cessna 172, which was to be used for the flight, is currently based at Jandakot where one of our co-owners is learning to fly. Prior to accepting the flight it been our intention to drive to Perth on the Saturday for my daughters birthday. I had amended the schedule to drive down on Friday, do the AF, stay at home and fly back to Jandakot on Saturday morning and be back on schedule. On the dawn of the flight I took a look outside, and thought it did not look pretty, though on downloading the Area 60 forecast a VFR flight would not be ruled out. I phoned the pilot who had to come out of Jandakot, and he had concerns with the weather at his end, and we agreed to make a decision in an hours time. An hour elapsed, no improvement in the weather at JT, but VFR possible at this end. That I could make the drive a few hours earlier with the Pt made the decision easy. Hit the road, and the two lots of rain we passed through on the way to Perth vindicated the decision. Pt made her appointment time and we kept the option of a flight home open.

 

I was out at JT mid afternoon and had the C172 ready to go. There were cells of rain around, but in the main VFR flight was possible with caution. The Pts chemo ran later than anticipated, and last light was becoming an issue to contend with. I do have a NVFR rating, which is not current at the moment, which removed any flexibility that that rating would offer. I set a time for departure, which incorporated a 30 minute buffer as an allowance for weather realted diversions. Decision time arrived, decision made. Nett result: Pt transported safely and successfully, though not in the manner anticipated, and with bent backsides from 8 hours in the car.

 

Angel Flight were most appreciative of the decions made on their behalf last Friday. I followed my instincts and experience gained over 38 years of flying in making my decisions, and whilst the Victorian incident did nothing to influence the decisions, I was was never the less mindful of the outcome. I am confident the vast majority of Angel Flight pilots would have done likewise.

 

Got a lovely hug and kiss from the Pt when I delivered her home, and she is confidently looking to Angel Flight to transport for her next round of chemo. Can't say that I enjoyed the drive back to Perth next day for my daughters birthday!!

 

 

[Jaba-who]

David wrote

 

"After reading it, I suspect AF is going to come in for a good deal of scrutiny, based on the topics listed to be investigated for the final report."

 

Actually it doesn't say much at all, really. Every topic quoted there is a standard topic that gets investigated after any crash - with the exception of the line about examining the role of using private pilots for these types of flights.

 

Now if you just think about that topic - AF has apparently 11000 flights with no incidents. That's a record many services with commercial pilots could not beat. In the end it seems like the cause (speculating here I know) was "push-on-itis" probably due to the pressure of having a patient on board. Provided AF has (or undertakes to put ) a mechanism in place to support pilots to abandon the flight and revert to road travel if needed I can't see AF getting crucified over it. (Especially from the ATSB)

 

Of course the later CASA outcome may be different - sometimes past CASA rulings have seemed to be hard to understand or defied logic and natural justice.

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

it will be an interesting mix of well intentioned private pilots/quasi aeromedical activity/tasking/pilot qualifications/aircraft equipment/decision making that will be examined by CASA..

Spot on, CFIcare.