Light aircraft crash in the state’s far west.

[BirdDog]

Two people have been taken to hospital after a light aircraft crash in the state’s far west.

 

About 8.30am (Monday 19 November 2018), emergency services were called to Tandou Road, Menindee, after reports a light aircraft crashed.

 

 

 

[red750]

Jab ended up inverted. Read more here

 

 

[alf jessup]

Good to see they are alive.

 

Testament to a good airframe and good fortune.

 

 

[cooperplace]

looks like not to bad a place for a forced landing, but it would only take one rabbit hole to flip the plane. I hope they recover quickly. It will be interesting to hear the full story.

 

 

[jetjr]

Ground there is pretty rough, but road (a bad one) close,

 

other accident, Foxbat?? wasn't that far away Id think

 

 

[JEM]

Menindee is east of Broken Hill isnt it?  Big dust storm there wednesday moving east 

 

 

[alf jessup]

Menindee is east of Broken Hill isnt it?  Big dust storm there wednesday moving east 

Bet it was we had the same at Moomba all from the south

 

 

[turboplanner]

The event was 8:30 Monday; what was it like up there then?

 

 

[farri]

On the NSW Police Force facebook site!

 

Macca Straede Glad they're ok but I think the government should seriously think about a light aircraft cull and putting nets in the sky.

 

Tyra Basilicata No good can come from people flying themselves around in little planes.

 

 

[M61A1]

On the NSW Police Force facebook site!

Macca Straede Glad they're ok but I think the government should seriously think about a light aircraft cull and putting nets in the sky.

 

Tyra Basilicata No good can come from people flying themselves around in little planes.

A quick glance at their pages tells me that they are more likely be be culled by natural selection than most pilots.

 

 

[farri]

Don`t you just love it!!! "No good can come from people flying themselves around in little planes".......  

 

 

[alf jessup]

Don`t you just love it!!! "No good can come from people flying themselves around in little planes".......  

That’s it Franco, we are much safer passing cars with less than 5 foot clearance on the highways with a closing speed of 200kph

 

 

[facthunter]

I'm not surprised.  It takes a special approach to life to "think" like that. If you have no interest in it, stop others doing it. No good can come out of suggesting little planes shouldn't be able to be flown by people who wish to and have obeyed the law all the way. Nev

 

 

[pmccarthy]

I propose we stop people riding bicycles and horses. No good can come of it. And I can probably think of fifty other activities that don’t appeal to me and therefore should be banned. One day, when I am dictator.

 

 

[onetrack]

Probably more importantly, we should be looking at why 5 people have died in light aircraft crashes since late October. 

 

It's not something to shrug about, with a "shxx happens" attitude, it shows there's some serious deficiencies in piloting skills, or training - or both, in the recreational flying arena.

 

Why has there been a major spike in light aircraft deaths in the last month?

 

 

[turboplanner]

You’ll all wear yourselves out responding to the nut cases.

 

 

[red750]

Meanwhile, one more dead and one injured in the crash of a R22 helicopter in Central Australia. Read report here. 

 

 

[alf jessup]

Probably more importantly, we should be looking at why 5 people have died in light aircraft crashes since late October. 

It's not something to shrug about, with a "shxx happens" attitude, it shows there's some serious deficiencies in piloting skills, or training - or both, in the recreational flying arena.

 

Why has there been a major spike in light aircraft deaths in the last month?

Agree onetrack,

 

Deficiencies I agree with you wholeheartedly.

 

Pilot attitude and decision making is a big part of staying alive.

 

Practicing regularly what you were taught during your training between BFR’s I believe is lacking in a lot of pilots so when it goes pear shaped you are not prepared.

 

It is very hard to tell what a human will do next, doesn’t matter how well you train someone you have no real control over how they behave once training is finished.

 

we all should have a health respect for what we do as flying as fantastic as it is it is very unforgiving.

 

 

[poteroo]

Agree onetrack,

Deficiencies I agree with you wholeheartedly.

 

Pilot attitude and decision making is a big part of staying alive.

 

Practicing regularly what you were taught during your training between BFR’s I believe is lacking in a lot of pilots so when it goes pear shaped you are not prepared.

 

It is very hard to tell what a human will do next, doesn’t matter how well you train someone you have no real control over how they behave once training is finished.

 

we all should have a health respect for what we do as flying as fantastic as it is it is very unforgiving.

 

Correct on both points. However, to quote an oldie...... you can lead a horse to water - but it may not drink!

 

I often see logbooks with less than 5-10 hrs flying - over the 2 year interval between BFR/AFR - and in one case, the pilot had a total of 3 renewals on a single logbook page.

 

The instructors 'problem' with these pilots is complicated: if we suggest some retraining, then we are mercenary bastards, or, the pilot then 'shops' around for a less diligent instructor, or, they fly back home and continue to fly 'out-of-sight/out-of-mind for the rest of their days. 

 

Now let's be very clear: I'm not 'failing' pilots because they can't recite the latest blurb from RAAus or CASA about,eg, radio frequencies - I'm only asking them to improve their actual flying skills back to where they were at issue.  Pilots are not killing themselves because of peripheral stuff - it's generally due to degraded aircraft handling skills, degraded decision making skills, and poor aircraft knowledge.

 

Re the ABC story: Well, it's all very well for an ex RPT pilot to state the bleeding obvious. Annoying actually, when they arte not seeing just how drastically the economy and red tape is reducing the hours flown by most pilots. If pilots fly less - their skills will decline - there's nothing new about this. However, the issue is really, how to convince pilots to obtain recurrant training?  Regardless of how it's done - there will be a large dropout of both RAAus and GA pilots - and mostly from the more 'senior' demographic. Is this a problem? 

 

On the other hand, it seems to me that it's not necessarily the more elderly pilots who are figuring in the recent accidents. Before CASA or RAAus impose all sorts of training requirements on pilots, I suggest they look carefully into the ages and experience levels in, say, the last 10 years incidents/accidents. The numbers may more accurately inform any future decisions.

 

happy days,

 

 

[turboplanner]

I've previously mentioned one possible way around that - 30 minute flights, which one of my friends used to do at Moorabbin. he rarely got out into the training area, but he had 30 minutes of high pressure decisions, radio use, aircraft control on a regular basis.

 

I think you've encapsulated the situation well, and one of the big frustrations is that the current RAA Ltd format means that there is a disconnect between people with practical everyday involvement like yourself and people in CASA who may or may not have practical experience and that practical experience may be what used to happen in the 1980s with a much lower population and more scattered urban areas.

 

 

[jetjr]

Heard today that this was apparently a forced landing after engine failure

 

Pilot and PAX were/are badly injured.

 

 

[old man emu]

Consider a comparison between road injury/fatality incidents and similar incidents related to non-commercial aviation.

 

In Australia, millions of non-commercial drivers, drive millions of kilometres per year. Due to our population distribution, the majority of these kilometres are racked up on metropolitan roads. For those of you who don't live in out major metropolitan areas, driving in these areas is akin to flying into the world's busiest airports, without the ability to communicate verbally with other aircraft or traffic control.

 

That would suggest that there should be more injury/fatality incidents on the roads than there are.  Why is that not so?

 

Quite simply: drivers of motor vehicles in metropolitan areas each day are practising and employing the skills necessary to complete a journey without incident. Name me a non-commercial pilot who practises the applicable skills to complete an incident-free flight, at least five days per week?

 

 

[cooperplace]

Heard today that this was apparently a forced landing after engine failure

Pilot and PAX were/are badly injured.

is anything more known about exactly what failed and exactly what engine was in it?

 

 

[APenNameAndThatA]

Probably more importantly, we should be looking at why 5 people have died in light aircraft crashes since late October. 

It's not something to shrug about, with a "shxx happens" attitude, it shows there's some serious deficiencies in piloting skills, or training - or both, in the recreational flying arena.

 

Why has there been a major spike in light aircraft deaths in the last month?

To answer your question, the same reason that RAAus accidents have been very low over the last few years: randomness is lumpier than you would expect. To demonstrate this to yourself, play spotto next time you are driving with at least one other person. Whenever you see a yellow car, call out "spotto!" There will be long lulls, and then five in a row. 

 

 

[facthunter]

 Statistics are only valid if the numerical size of the  considered units is so large that the figures are not distorted by a small cluster of  a certain type of event.. You are not immune from danger if there's been a spate of deaths even if that's above those for a normal year. You can't say we've had our quota for the year, already. Some still believe everything happens in groups of THREE.  Believe that to a great extent in aviation, YOU make your own luck and you will be better off by planning and being skilled and careful.   Nev