Ultralight crashes, bursts into flames at Morwell

[Guest News (.com.au)]

Small plane crashes, bursts into flames

 

LIVENEWS.com.au, Australia - 4 minutes ago

 

Police at Morwell said it appeared there had been a mid-air crash between the ultralight plane and another light aircraft. The light aircraft was able to ...

 

More...

 

 

[Ben Longden]

A pilot was killed when his ultralight plane plunged to the ground and burst into flames following a mid-air collision at Gippsland, in southeast Victoria.

 

The ultralight and a light plane collided near the Latrobe Valley Regional Airport, west of Traralgon, about 11.30am (AEDT) today.

 

The impact sent the ultralight crashing to the ground where it burst into flames, killing the pilot, police said.

 

The pilot of the other plane landed safely and was uninjured.

 

Country Fire Authority (CFA) spokesman George Ellis said the plane was destroyed in the fireball.

 

"A small plane has come down and been destroyed by fire on impact," Mr Ellis said.

 

Four fire units and about 20 firefighters were at the crash site.

 

Rural Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said nothing could be done to save the pilot.

 

"No-one could get close to it (the plane) to see if anyone survived," he said.

 

An investigation team from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) was making its way to the airport to piece together the circumstances of the crash.

 

"We're getting a team together to go down there today," an ATSB spokesman said.

 

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) had been notified of the accident but would not be involved in the investigation since no passenger planes were involved, spokesman Peter Gibson said.

 

AAP

 

 

[Guest High Plains Drifter]

Another sad day, this has also happened;

 

Report in The Australian, today 01/12/07

 

WOMAN has suffered back injuries and a man heavy bruising after their paraglider came to ground heavily at Officer, southeast of Melbourne.An ambulance spokesman said the couple were just a few metres off the ground this morning when their paraglider was caught by a wind gust and pushed back to earth.

 

The woman, in her 30s, was taken to The Alfred Hospital in a stable condition while the man, in his 50s, suffered soft tissue injuries.

 

It is sad to hear of aviation acciedents, though I wonder about the media reporting of every little incident / accident.

 

There is one motorcycle fatality a week in Queesnland, yet I dont see every motor bike accident written up in the national news services.

 

HPD

 

 

[Guest brentc]

I was nearby the first one today. Channel 10 and the ABC were onsite hassling everyone for info. There were 4 x news choppers overhead the field. The channel 10 reporter told me more than I knew which surprised me! It was probably only half true anyway. A shocking end to a fun Saturday jaunt in the skies.

 

 

[jimecho1]

The ABC talks about a 65-year-old ultralight pilot and a 15-year-old student pilot driving a Cessna. I wonder if they're mistaking a Jab for a Cessna, though.

 

I was thinking about dropping in to watch the Saturday morning show as I drove past this morning, but thought it a bit blowy for there to be much happening.

 

I'm glad I didn't turn off. These things are tragic enough without having to dodge the news media.

 

Fly safely

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Once again i wonder if it was an ultralight or a microlight??the media can't seem to destinguish between the 2.. the news report i saw showed a section of burnt out wreckage, it looked like the cockpit crash cage of a skyfox or something similar, although its difficult to say for sure..sad day for us either way..prayers for the family..

 

 

[motzartmerv]

how rediculous..i just read the report..it contradicted itself..at first it said that 2 ultralight aircraft collided and later says the ga aircraft landed safely??..the report i saw on tv showed a c172 or something of the like...

 

 

[Aussie Steve]

Condolences to the family of the deceased pilot from everyone at Katoomba Airfield,

 

A tragedy for all pilots.

 

Our thoughts are with all the crew at Latrobe Valley.

 

 

[Mazda]

That is terribly tragic. According to PPRuNe it was a C172 with a solo student pilot. It makes sense I guess because the 172 has quite a big nose and the seating is quite low (especially if the young pilot wasn't tall).

 

Enough is enough. We really need to push hard for Unicoms. Any pilot on the ground on a radio could have pointed out the traffic. It wouldn't have to be an air traffic controller.

 

RIP.

 

 

[Mazda]

I also hope the young student is OK too. It would have been quite a feat to land safely after something like that. This is tragic for everyone.

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Very tragic indeed. RIP to the pilot. It is so important to maintain radio comms and keep a look out in the circuit. That's just a general comment. it's been discussed re the importance so many times before in these forums. Anyway, a sad day.

 

 

[Guest brentc]

'twas a 16 yr old student pilot in 172 versus Avid 912 Ultralight. Many people at Tooradin knew this gent and he visited frequently as recently as a week ago. If anyone finds out details of the funeral could you please let me know as many from Tooradin will be attending.

 

 

[Ben Longden]

Fron Nine News

 

An ultralight pilot was killed in a fiery crash in southeast Victoria after being hit from above by a light aircraft as both tried to land simultaneously.

 

The 65-year-old pilot died when his ultralight plunged to the ground and burst into flames, west of the Gippsland town of Traralgon, about 11.30am (AEDT) Saturday.

 

The ultralight disintegrated on impact and wreckage was scattered across an area about 500 metres north of the Latrobe Valley Regional Airport.

 

The light plane landed safely and the solo student pilot escaped uninjured.

 

Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) spokesman Peter Gibson said the Avid 992 ultralight and the single engined Cessna 172 were coming in to land when the accident happened.

 

"It appears the Cessna has hit the ultralight while both were attempting to land and the Cessna came in on top of the aircraft during the final approach," he said.

 

"The aircraft has hit the ground and burst into flames."

 

Country Fire Authority (CFA) spokesman George Ellis said the ultralight was destroyed in the fireball.

 

Four fire units and about 20 firefighters were called to the crash.

 

But there was nothing emergency services could do to save the pilot.

 

"No one could get close to it to see if anyone survived," Rural Ambulance Victoria (RAV) spokesman John Mullen said.

 

One of the airport's two runways was closed and the body had yet to be removed early Saturday afternoon.

 

Police spokeswoman Alison Noonan said it could be some time before the pilot was formally identified.

 

"The body was unrecognisable so I'm not sure," she said.

 

A team of Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigators flew from Sydney to examine the crash site.

 

"The ATSB is going to investigate ... it's a midair collision and they're very rare and obviously very serious," Mr Gibson said.

 

Latrobe Valley Regional Airport manager Noel Cooper said the shock of the incident had yet to sink in.

 

"Like anyone else I was out there to do a job in these circumstances, no one likes to hear of any kind of incident let alone one like that," he said.

 

"I think people have been doing what people do in an emergency. They've all been pulling together working, making sure that everything was done that could be done. I don't think they've had time to be shaken up yet."

 

Mr Cooper said he did not know the ultralight pilot personally but he was most likely a member of one of the local flying clubs.

 

Gippsland Ultralight and Leisure Flyers member Vin Martin was anxiously waiting for news of the pilot's identity.

 

He said the club had an excellent safety record and the incident would not put him off flying.

 

"The club's been going for 20-odd years. There's been a few fatalities in that time but there hasn't been too many to speak of."

 

 

 

[Guest brentc]

How's this for a great photo, entirely relevant to the accident?

 

[ATTACH]4419.vB[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Yep, they'll use anything they can get there is no doubt about that.

 

 

[BigPete]

We need a wall of shame at each airport clubhouse with details of the stuffup and the reporters name and his paper. ;)

 

"Ultralight with 8 passengers bursts into flames when rotor hits pidgeon" :yuk:

 

reported by Ima Dik of the local paper "Makeitupasyougo" :;)1:

 

and we 'phone them and tell them they're the topic of conversation during Friday nights gathering. (laughter in the background) :big_grin::big_grin::big_grin:

 

off my soapbox

 

regards

 

 

[Ben Longden]

You mean asking the editor of the paper to put up a wall of shame in the staff tea room. That would be more effective, especially when you tell them that if they print 50,000 copies of the paper, then they have just made 50,000 mistakes - and that will live with them for ever, as every newspaper printed is stored in the Mitchell Library.

 

Ben

 

 

[facthunter]

Profit.

 

It's only about selling papers. Who cares about the deceptive headlines? It's the 50,000 copies that matters. I don't buy them. You are not allowed to wrap fish & chips in them & they are unhealthy to wipe your b**t with, so....... Nev....

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

It's only about selling papers. Who cares about the deceptive headlines? It's the 50,000 copies that matters. I don't buy them. You are not allowed to wrap fish & chips in them & they are unhealthy to wipe your b**t with, so....... Nev....

I use them for my rabbits Nev. They naturally on them. For that they are excellent and nothing beats it.

 

 

[Guest terry]

The following comments are made without prejudice to any of the unfortunate people involved in the accident mentioned. If any of the forum moderators consider it inappropriate then please remove it. When I was doing my training I was under the supervision of my instructors. I had two instructors over the course of my training, and during that time I was always under their direct supervision. Even While doing five hours solo my instructor was on the ground with a hand held transceiver ready to instruct me if he felt it necessary. Twice he did this, once when a commercial flight was on long final, secondly to call it a day. I could see him watching me each time I came in for a touch and go so this wasn't just for me it was obviously his practice. I never gave any thought to it at the time but thinking back on this I should have expected nothing less, I was paying for his time and I deserved his attention. I know there are times when a student can be left during unsupervised training but surely not after only one hour of solo flying.

 

Regards Terry

 

 

[Aussie Steve]

Very good point Terry ! I have always believed that the instructor should have radio contact with the student at all times. She can monitor the trafic and give any heads up to movements that may not be noticed by the overworked or overstressed student. This could well save many lives and it is not a money issue. A handheld is all that is needed for observing circuit work. ;)

 

 

[Matt]

Good point Terry and something I had been thinking about as well, no doubt something that will be uncovered during the ATSB investigation. I'm not sure of the legalities but I'd expect that solo students (in the circuit at least) are required to be be under constant visual supervision by their instructor who should have a radio, this was the case during my training - GA and RA-Aus.

 

Cheers,

 

Matt.

 

 

[Matt]

Great minds Steve ;)

 

 

[Tony]

I cannot imagine an Instructor NOT WATCHING !

 

So radio/comms is the problem ?

 

 

[Guest brentc]

It was reported that the student had less than 3 hours solo. I would have expected that the instructor would be watching (I of course can't confirm nor deny if this took place, nor will I speculate). I have also read that prior to passing the GFPT test, a student is under constant supervision, but after speaking to someone at my work today, he undertook a number of solo training area flights prior to his GFPT, but after completing the BAK. So in summary I am a little confused as to whether it is a legal requirement to be supervised.