Merged: Mid-air collision at Moorabbin

[Madam Dash]

Spare a thought for the Instructor of the PA-28, who took over, landed the plane safely & practiced great airmanship under very trying circumstances, now he has to live with this cloud of the "150 hero" reports, knowing that he did his job over & above the norm.

[Critical Reynolds No]

Just saw a picture of the Warrior on Sky News. The whole left hand side of the Horizontal stab is gone! How they got it back I don't know. I assume the right hand side was ok.

[Mick.B]

If this was this students first solo, how much "heads up "does the tower give and get given.. I know when I went solo at Cairns the controllers were more than helpfull. Dont get me wrong im not pointing fingers but you would think they may have been keeping a better look out than normal. How much are you under control where the accident happened at Moorabin. Was the Tower manned at the time.

[Jerr]

Tower was manned

The tower was manned, as it is every day except for Christmas day. I had landed about 10 minutes before the crash.

Runway 31 L & 31 R were in operation. It was very busy at the time. As often happens 31 L tower west freq (123.0) was merged with MB ground (119.9). After landing it was hard to get the ground call out as it was so busy.

I wonder if the tower controller was overloaded with 31L and ground work at the same time.

Even with the tower control, you must keep a keen look out.

Condolences to all concerned.

Jerr

[HotDog]

I very much doubt that the pilot of the C-150 had much control over his final meeting place with terra firma, after a mid air collision.

[PSV_Sunshine]

source - WA Media

[Mr Milk]

What a tragedy. condolences to all those affected.
A good job by the looks of the PA28 to get it down safe too.


MM

[lazysundays]

I still remember the nerves and exhilaration of my first solo... Condolences to the young pilot's family.

[flypy]

Sheeeetttt. Seems the Piper guys were lucky as all hell too.

Have to wonder though... how does the port wing of one A/C get in contact with the port horizontal stab of another??

If it was opposite sides its perhaps easier to understand.

[TwoTango]

This is just awful. On two occasions I've been watching a student from the ground, and thought they looked awfully close to another aircraft (different student I might add, and both got a very stern and thorough debrief after the event). My heart goes out to the instructor who sent the solo student up - heaven knows what they must be feeling right now... You just don't want to even think about it.

From those photos, the two on the Warrior look bloody lucky to have walked away - goodness knows how close that stabilator must have been to parting ways with the airframe.

Keep your eyes open all the time everyone, let's hope we don't have to see another one of these for a very long time...

TT

[Wicked shimmy]

Holy cow! That horizontal stab is a mess. The Warrior instructor certainly did a good job getting that back down! Not a lot of pitch authority I’d guess.

Seems to be damage to the Warrior’s rudder as well.....hit from bellow and to the port the side? The damage on the 150 is on the port wing....interesting.

Sad day for sure.

[Jabawocky]

Cessna doing a right hand CCT from the left runway perhaps?

That is interesting and amazing it was not 3 dead.

J

[strim]

Poor guy never had a chance. I just can't imagine how terrified he must have been in those final seconds. I've stood by the runway and watched many a first solo, and for an instructor to witness this must have been horrific.

Respect to the pilot who flew that Warrior back safely.

Any instructors out there need to gather their students and discuss this event, now, and also when the report comes out. I get the feeling sometimes some of my younger students don't quite realise the big picture when they're flying - that is, that they are thousands of feet in the air in a small metal frame with only air between them and the ground.
It is events like today which bring us soaring back to reality - it is important for students (and any pilot for that matter) to understand how quickly and easily it can all go so wrong. Lookout is one of the most fundamental airmanship considerations and it shocks me sometimes doing AFR's/Checkrides etc that some pilots simply do not lookout at all. We can all learn from this.

Thoughts are with the family, the instructor and the Club. Very sad indeed.

[PlankBlender]

At the risk of getting flamed here, why would anyone send out a student for his first solo at a time when the circuit is super busy? I don't think I would, no matter how ready I think a student is. This one most likely wasn't.

Very sad for all concerned, but I think just from the facts as they are known now, we can learn a few things, like making sure the first solo is done under controlled circumstances as much as possible, and this would include avoiding busy times at YMMB, which seldomly last more than a few hours when everyone's out there.

[Sunfish]

Please stop speculating and posting ridiculous comments! Nobody at RVAC sends anyone out on a first solo unless the conditions are judged suitable and the student has been thoroughly checked by an appropriately qualified instructor, often more than one. When the time arrives, the last call the instructor makes to the tower before getting out is "XXX - first solo" to alert all concerned.

As for YMMB being busy, yes it usually is, but please bear in mind that the students at YMMB have done all their training in that busy environment and are therefore quite familiar with it, and it's presided over by an absolutely first class ATC group in the tower, and in any case we don't know whether the amount of traffic at the time had anything whatsoever to do with this tragedy.

My condolences to the family and my sympathies to all the students and staff at RVAC, and especially the instructors. This is rotten bad luck, but at least CGT made it back with two on board - great airmanship!

I first solo'd in little UPY four years ago, and I'll be back flying out of RVAC when things calm down.

Life will go on..

[carbon]

The only way this damage set appears to make sense is a near 90degree side on collision? 150 hitting the warrior from the port side?

Granted, a simplistic view from an un-educated eye, though how else does this work?

Terrible accident, condolences to all.

[Chu Mai Huang]

and the best one....
the owner of the house was "lucky to survive the crash...."
by not actually being there at the time! He was miles away - now that's a close call. NOT.

[VH-XXX]

Based on the location of the event and the fact that they were both in the circuit you can quite easily put 2 and 2 together. HeraldSun.com.au has a graphic of the collision and whilst it is reversed it shows the likely impact sequence. One can only assume that the circuit's didn't match and this was the tragic end result.

[VH-Cheer Up]

No doubt there is going to be an interesting accident investigation report. We will all be able to learn from whatever factors led to such a breakdown of separation.

The airport will also be having an interesting time dealing with the inevitable public kneejerk-backlash.

Might be timely to remember the airport was there long before almost all of the residents surrounding it.

[flightfocus]

It is incredible how the tragic loss of one life can be so far reaching. I am sure it has had an enormous impact on all at RVAC.

Also please spare a thought for the poor air traffic controllers on duty. Obviously this will have an impact on all working at the Tower. However it would be an absolute nightmare for the controller working the circuit I am sure. Despite the best vigilance nobody can watch EVERY aircraft ALL of the time. Obviously you would need 1 controller per aircraft for that to occur.

Lets hope that all involved can move forward and try and use this experience to improve the industry.