Phil Ward

February 24th Fly in to a great day at Warnervale YWVA for something a bit different. Wings and Wheels. Contact Central Coast Aero Club Manager Andrew Smith 02 43925174

Those aircraft are incredibly well maintained, how many times have you heard of a control surface failure in the past KGWilson. Think about what we know which is my point,call it for what it is and let's not pretend that people don't make errors.

That is the most noteworthy post I have seen on here so far "on track" as it doesn't speculate it is a proper and sensible observation based on the facts known, you call it like it is. Aeroplanes don't just dive out of control.........unless of course there is a major control surface operation failure which we all know is incredibly rare. The other most plausible factor is the pilot input has put the aeroplane into a circumstance that then caused it to dive out of control. Therefore it is reasonable to consider Pilot incapacitation or error to be the most reasonable considerations for this accident. We all know the aeroplane was flying straight and level at around 200 feet towards terrain as shown in the video footage,and "moments"later it had turned approx 180 degrees and nose dived into the water, as per witness account. The impact point is not in doubt and is clearly close to the waters edge(where the terrain rises steeply). For the aeroplane to have impacted the water so close to a point under the point where it was previously flying straight and level can only suggest it had turned and dived sharply. I have a question.......why it is it that when an experienced driver crashes his car through someone's front fence there is instant reports on why it happened,speed,loss of control,hit the wrong pedal,skid marks on the road,got distracted,fell asleep,talking on his phone etc. It's never just "he was experienced" and then in a year,when the facts have been hidden behind "he was very experienced and we don't know what happened" the news is secretly released that the driver is found to have made a mistake.

You can only land at an approved airfield or if its in someones paddock(or beach) you have to obtain the permission of that land owner to do it. Dont know where you are refering to in Qld but the afore mentioned applies otherwise landing there is breaking the rules, simple as that.

Your correct Geoff, I dont know you ,I only know what you wrote which suggested you were in some way supportive of the fact that Mr Beachie broke the law.

Sorry to labour on it Happy but I feel the guy does need to be vilified. Everyone makes mistakes but we (i do anyway) try our best to minimise mistakes to the best of our ability. This bloke just didnt make a mistake, he made a deliberate decision, even did a fly past, to do the wrong thing and he has been caught out for it. How would it have been if the thing had dug in a bit more and the news showed it upside down or worse on the beach. Its not the feeling among us aviation tragics that small aeroplanes are unsafe but it clearly is the feeling in the wider community, the CLEVER pilots like Mr Beachie have tarred the industry with that perception and I dont like it, it should be called for what it is.

Its a shame you dont understand my position Geoff particularly as you were doing a BFR, did you pass it. If there is a problem, fog, emergency etc etc or the precautionary situation you have eluded to then, if you have to land you would do it wherever you can, and clearly you wouldn't be in any kind of trouble (relating to where you landed that is). That wasn't the case with this bloke. He went for a FUN fly and decided for the FUN of it to land on the beach. He had heard of others doing it (I might add illegally) and he did it for the hell of it. THEN he made a call to the police and emergency people to help him move the aeroplane up the beach away from the rising tide. I reckon he will be getting a "please explain" from everyone involved and as I noted I hope he gets reamed. My position is that I am uncomfortable with the ever growing fact that too many people in the broader community believe small planes are not safe when in reality they are incredibly safe. In the majority of incident cases its the pilots who are not safe and Mr Illegal Beach landing is another one of them.

I dont agree with you Bull, this circumstance is totally illegal. "little Plane" incidents are regularly featured in the media and more often than not the report is highlighted by the fact that the pilot "was very experienced" and more than not Mr Experience had tried to do something with the aeroplane it wasn't capable of doing. Clearly this incident can only be characterised in that way, it was too heavy for the runway but the idiot tried anyway. And more than that it is illegal unless he got the permission of the land owner, and considering who that is I reckon that would be impossible. I hope he gets well and truly reamed because idiots like him only bring in to disrepute the majority who do the right thing.