Not a good weekend

[Admin]

For those that do not watch the news listings on the home page there have been 3 accidents/incidents this weekend which is not good for our industry:

 

http://www.recreationalflying.com/forum/aviation-news/60875-gold-coast-pair-escape-plane-flips-impact.html

 

(this I am told was a Gazelle)

 

http://www.recreationalflying.com/forum/aviation-news/60871-two-brothers-aboard-ultralight-aircraft-missing-yarrawonga.html

 

and there is one aircraft believed at this stage to be a trike missing in WA as well

 

 

[Tomo]

Jimny! not real good alright.

 

Hope those lost get found all well. I wonder what happened to the aircraft that ditched? Mechanical failure... mmm

 

 

[Guest Brett Campany]

Was told that the aircraft missing in WA was a Tecnam from Bunbury, still waiting on details from the search last night. Here's hoping all is well with the pilot.

 

 

[Admin]

Here is the news story on the WA one Brett - keep us informed if you can would you mate!

 

http://www.recreationalflying.com/forum/aviation-news/60886-wa-search-continues-missing-plane.html

 

 

[Simonflyer]

ADMIN.. I think that right now our thoughts and concerns should be with the missing pilots, not the industry....Lets hope all are found safe and well.

 

 

[Guest Pabloako]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/07/2763663.htm

 

Emergency services have found wreckage and two bodies near Yarrawonga in northern Victoria and they believe it is an ultralight plane that went missing last night

 

 

[Admin]

ADMIN.. I think that right now our thoughts and concerns should be with the missing pilots, not the industry....Lets hope all are found safe and well.

You are absolutely right mate and it goes without saying.

 

 

[Guest basscheffers]

One of the news articles says the rego of the Yarrawonga one to be 32-4391. Hoping to find out the type, I went to the RAA site, only to find there is nothing on the register with that number.

 

Hope the register is just out of date or the journo got the rego wrong and they weren't flying unregistered!

 

 

[Admin]

It was a pipistrel trike

 

 

[Admin]

The WA pilot and aircraft (a Tecnam) have been found however that is basically all the news report says:

 

http://www.recreationalflying.com/forum/aviation-news/60963-missing-pilot-found-after-massive-search.html#post144698

 

 

[dazza 38]

I will watch Gold coast Nine news and get back to you about the heck field, incident.

 

 

[Exadios]

Was told that the aircraft missing in WA was a Tecnam from Bunbury, still waiting on details from the search last night. Here's hoping all is well with the pilot.

We received a call at Narrogin airfield from the search coodinators on Sunday evening. They wanted to check whether he had returned to Narrogin airfield. We checked our runways etc. but, unfortunately, no luck.

 

 

[Guest Pabloako]

Pilot treated for back injuries - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

A South-West pilot who was missing for 20 hours after crash landing his plane, is recovering in hospital.

 

53-year-old Frank Mason from Geographe was flying an ultralight plane from Narrogin to Bunbury on Sunday when he lost his way and had to make a forced landing between Nannup and Augusta.

 

Up to 16 aircraft searched for the plane yesterday morning ,and the man and his aircraft were found in a paddock in Chester.

 

He is in hospital with serious back injuries

 

 

[Exadios]

I'm told by someone from Narrogin Flying Club that he is a student and was on some sort of nav exercise. Apparently he landed near Augusta, WA, which is hundreds of clicks from Bunbury.

 

There was a report that he was lost in cloud. There may have been a few Qs popping on Sunday but the only real cloud was Cirrus at 30000'.

 

Also he ran out of fuel before landing. I'm not sure what they teach now but the rule used to be land while you still have fuel in powered planes and land from height in gliders.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

OK, Now I'm only going on what info I have here, which is not much, but four questions come to my febel mind....

 

1. Why was he sent on a long nav, if the weather was doubtfull ?.

 

2. Why was he sent on a long nav, without a rescue beacon ?.

 

3. If he got caught in cloud, why was he not taught to stay away from cloud ?.

 

4. Why wasn't he told to land if down to x amount of fuel remaining ?.

 

I know hindsight is 20/20, but there appears to be some possible short-comings on the part of this guys' instructor ?.

 

 

[turboplanner]

And maybe it's not so hard to get frigging lost after all.

 

I seem to remember some low time heroes telling me how easy it was to navigate in this very area, before they were even navigation qualified, just a few months ago.

 

It's great he's OK, and a good lesson to all of us.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

It's very easy to get lost or confused, especially for the novice. That's why proper and complete preparation is so important for early student nav flights. For instance was the 'turn back to departure point' covered, or the use of suitable alternative airports or landing sites, or if lost, land at the first suitable site...whilst you've still got fuel !.........I have been asked by instructors if I would mind following somebody on their first nav (without them knowing your doing it), and have been happy to do so, on more than one occasion..........

 

 

[Exadios]

OK, Now I'm only going on what info I have here, which is not much, but four questions come to my febel mind....1. Why was he sent on a long nav, if the weather was doubtfull ?.

The weather between Bunbury and Narrogin was not doubtful. It was almost perfect VFR.

 

2. Why was he sent on a long nav, without a rescue beacon ?.

I believe (but do not know for sure) that he had one. If he did have one I do not know why it was not used.

 

3. If he got caught in cloud, why was he not taught to stay away from cloud ?.

I do not believe that he was caught in cloud because there was none. The cloud report came from an early news report.

 

4. Why wasn't he told to land if down to x amount of fuel remaining ?.

Hmmmm.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Exadios, OK thanks for that. So if the weather was fine, did he just get lost and run out of fuel ?.

 

I don't have any problem understanding that scenero with a low time student I guess. Doesn't happen often, but i'm sure it's possible.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Have a look at the area on google earth - not too many landmarks

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Turboplanner, No excuse, even more reason for the instructor to make sure flight planning, compass use, alternate diversions, and map work are on the money, prior to letting him go. I don't have the correct maps, but it appears Narrogin to Bunbury would be about 255 deg and where he ended up may have been on a 225 track ?..assuming the intended route was to be direct I mean.

 

My instructor held me back 3 long days once, because of smoke haze in the intended flight area. But by then I knew my intended route intimatly. I would expect at the very least that our OPs manager should be talking to the instructor involved here ?....or am I being a touch harsh ..................................

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Turboplanner, I had a gander at Google earth and I can't say I agree with your 'not many landmarks' comment.

 

Coming out of Narrogin is a bit slim, but there are roads and creeks or rivers.You would need to sit on the compass a bit. It wouldn't be too long before the wooded country came into view to the SW, especially in clear VFR conditions at cruising altitude. The obvious route would be over collee where there is an airstrip, two large mining operations which should be quite visable, and a sizeable dam, plus of course the town itself. Once over Collee, another big dam, and then the coast should become visable and it's a pretty obvious run to Bunbury. My guess is the pilot might have been tracking the wrong heading initially, which I have done myself during early navs.........................

 

 

[turboplanner]

Quite possible, also depends on how low you are. Maybe the guy will give us his version to help others avoid the same situation.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

He shouldn't be cruising along too low if he's on a long nav. A bit of height helps a lot with picking out landmarks. I am glad the guy will be around to tell us what actually happened, which is not always the case, so I for one, look foward to hearing what actually transpired, to put him down near Agusta. This is one situation where a GPS track actually flown would be interesting .........................................

 

 

[Exadios]

Turboplanner, I had a gander at Google earth and I can't say I agree with your 'not many landmarks' comment.Coming out of Narrogin is a bit slim, but there are roads and creeks or rivers.You would need to sit on the compass a bit. It wouldn't be too long before the wooded country came into view to the SW, especially in clear VFR conditions at cruising altitude. The obvious route would be over collee where there is an airstrip, two large mining operations which should be quite visable, and a sizeable dam, plus of course the town itself. Once over Collee, another big dam, and then the coast should become visable and it's a pretty obvious run to Bunbury. My guess is the pilot might have been tracking the wrong heading initially, which I have done myself during early navs.........................

I agree.

 

Almost as soon as you take off from Narrogin you can see the CBH elevator just north of Williams very clearly. (The CBH termianls in WA are painted bright white and it is not unusual to be able to see them from over 100Km away.) In addition from 4000' QNH (ground level is around 1000') it is (and was on Sunday) very easy to see the Pingelly, Yealering, Wickepin, and Bullaring, etc, CBH elevators. Also the lakes to the SE are very prominent.

 

To the east of Collie there are large open cut mines and power stations. The mines have very large mounds of white soil around them and all these are visible from Williams. Also at 4000' QNH you will begin to see the sea to the west as a silver or gold fringe on the horizon.

 

As you near Collie you can see Wellington Dam and the CBH terminal in Bunbury.

 

So it is very easy to orientate youself in the Narrogin - Williams area and the pilot would have had a number of visual cues that something was not right early into the flight.