Ultralight plane missing near Yarrawonga

[Guest Pabloako]

Two missing after plane disappears

 

Two missing after plane disappears - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

Police hold fears for the safety of two men on board an ultralight plane missing near Yarrawonga in Victoria's north-east.

 

The flight took off about 6:00pm (AEDT) and was supposed to land about 9:00pm yesterday, but never returned.

 

The 58-year-old pilot from Yarrawonga and another man in his 50s from Lightning Ridge were on board the two-seater.

 

They were reported missing by a friend.

 

Police searched the area through the night but are yet to find the plane.

 

Sergeant Richard Zakrzewski says police aircraft will again be used in the search today and urged people in the area to be on the lookout.

 

"If the property owners in the area, farmers, if they could check their properties for this ultralight just in case it's landed on their property or they find it's on their property," he said.

 

"And we're also asking for any information from anyone that may have seen an ultralight after 6:00pm yesterday, if those people could ring the Echuca police station."

 

Sergeant Zakrzewski from Echuca Police says they hope to find the men soon.

 

"The chappy flying the plane was experienced; we're pretty confident of I dare say finding them," he said.

 

"We just hope they're found safe and well and there's some explanation as to why that ultralight didn't return last night."

 

 

[Guest Pabloako]

First Light/Last Light

 

Location: YARRAWONGA (YYWG)

 

Date: 6-Dec-2009

 

First-light: 1822 UTC

 

Last-light: 0950 UTC

 

 

[stanzahero]

Brothers die in ultralight crash in Vic

 

Really not good

 

 

[Guest Elk McPherson]

Very sad - I sent Ted solo

 

 

[Tomo]

That's awful.... wonder what went wrong?

 

 

[leestanley]

HERALD SUN 8.12 P18 DEATH PLANE WAS RISKY

 

Two brothers killed in a plane crash were flying what is believed to be the only aircraft of its kind in Australia - and experts have grave fears about the safety of the imported ultralight. Edward "Ted" Berryman, 58, was taking his brother Alan, 60, for a scenic flight in his new $70,000 Slovenian- built Pipestrel Spider ultralight when it plummeted to earth. They crashed near Burramine on the Murray River, about 10km from where they took off at Yarrawonga Aerodrome on Sunday evening. Both men were from northern NSW - Alan from Lightning Ridge and Ted from Manilda. Ted, who built aircraft hangars, was well known around Yarrawonga. Members of the local aviation community yesterday said they had concerns about the plane's safety. Yarrawonga Lore of Flight pilot training school spokeswoman Anne McLean said the aircraft was the only one of its kind in Australia. "And I hope it remains that way," she said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone have any comment regarding the Spider?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

I believe it was brought into the country by a well-known 3-axis importer to expand his range of aircraft. It was at Natfly a few years ago advertised at a discounted price which might suggest that there wasn't a huge amount of interested purchasers. It certainly wasn't worth the $70K figure mentioned in the article - IIRC it was 582 powered and you could get a primary category 912 trike for that price.

 

I'm not sure what design standard it complied with to allow it to be flown in Aus under CAO95.32. It pre-dates LSA but I don't think it was Section-S as the trike isn't sold in the UK AFAIK. Of course, not being tested to a standard doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't meet that standard.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[eastmeg2]

I've seen the base unit of that trike in the hangar at Yarrawonga and I can confirm it has a blue top 582.

 

From recollection of looking at the importer's web site a few years back it was priced around the $30k mark.

 

Can't say anything more about it as I haven't seen the wing at all.

 

Rgds,

 

Glen

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Was chatting to Andrew Hicks today. He did around 13 hours of initial flight training with the pilot, and he said that he was a very natural pilot, and the speed that he advance through initial training was most impressive.

 

In mentioning the trike in question, he mentioned that the wing was very 'old' technology...

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

Recreational Aviation Australia (RAA) is urging ultralight pilots not to fly beyond their abilities as it investigates the latest fatal ultralight crash ....

 

Fatal ultralight crash sparks warning - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)