Searchers call off hunt for missing pilot
October 27, 2003
A search for an experienced pilot whose plane crashed into the sea off the south-west Victorian coast yesterday has been called off.
Australian Search and Rescue spokesman Ben Mitchell said Warrnambool pilot Bill Bell was heading south about 60 nautical miles off the Warrnambool coast when his single-engine Cessna was last seen on radar at 3.48pm.
In a Mayday call 45 minutes later, Mr Bell said he was crashing 10 nautical miles off the coast due to engine failure.
Mr Mitchell said Air Traffic Control now believed Mr Bell gave an incorrect position, leaving rescuers with a possible search area of up to 100,000 square kilometres.
"Air traffic control would indicate he was a lot further south and still headed south," he said.
"Due to authorities not knowing how far he intended to go and which direction he intended to go in, it's just too big an area to search."
Mr Bell, aged in his mid-60s, has already survived one plane crash at sea.
The former Staywood Air operator crashed north-west of Hawaii in the mid 1980s and was not picked up for 11 hours, according to the Warrnambool Standard newspaper.
He is now based in Perth where he works as a flying instructor, and was due to attend today's funeral for his wife, Shirley, in Warrnambool.
Police have called off a large-scale search involving seven helicopters, one plane, a police launch and local boats that was to begin at dawn.
Police Senior Constable Wayne Wilson said all shipping and aircraft that cover the area would be advised to keep a lookout for the missing aircraft.
Chief Inspector John Robinson, of Warrnambool Police, said a review of the radar showed it was not possible Mr Bell was within 10 nautical miles of shore when he sent the mayday call.
He said all the evidence suggested he had flown south.
"There were other things that could have been done, I would think, by a skilled pilot with 7,500 flying hours, which could have made it easier to locate him," Insp Robinson said.
"He wasn't wearing a life jacket and hi
Searchers call off hunt for missing pilot
October 27, 2003
A search for an experienced pilot whose plane crashed into the sea off the south-west Victorian coast yesterday has been called off.
Australian Search and Rescue spokesman Ben Mitchell said Warrnambool pilot Bill Bell was heading south about 60 nautical miles off the Warrnambool coast when his single-engine Cessna was last seen on radar at 3.48pm.
In a Mayday call 45 minutes later, Mr Bell said he was crashing 10 nautical miles off the coast due to engine failure.
Mr Mitchell said Air Traffic Control now believed Mr Bell gave an incorrect position, leaving rescuers with a possible search area of up to 100,000 square kilometres.
"Air traffic control would indicate he was a lot further south and still headed south," he said.
"Due to authorities not knowing how far he intended to go and which direction he intended to go in, it's just too big an area to search."
Mr Bell, aged in his mid-60s, has already survived one plane crash at sea.
The former Staywood Air operator crashed north-west of Hawaii in the mid 1980s and was not picked up for 11 hours, according to the Warrnambool Standard newspaper.
He is now based in Perth where he works as a flying instructor, and was due to attend today's funeral for his wife, Shirley, in Warrnambool.
Police have called off a large-scale search involving seven helicopters, one plane, a police launch and local boats that was to begin at dawn.
Police Senior Constable Wayne Wilson said all shipping and aircraft that cover the area would be advised to keep a lookout for the missing aircraft.
Chief Inspector John Robinson, of Warrnambool Police, said a review of the radar showed it was not possible Mr Bell was within 10 nautical miles of shore when he sent the mayday call.
He said all the evidence suggested he had flown south.
"There were other things that could have been done, I would think, by a skilled pilot with 7,500 flying hours, which could have made it easier to locate him," Insp Robinson said.
"He wasn't wearing a life jacket and his emergency locator beacon wasn't activated (when he crashed). That beacon was not something he could turn off."
He said the Mr Bell's family understood the chances of finding him alive were "extraordinarily remote".
"It's such a huge expanse of the ocean, no search could cover that amount of water," he said.
- AAP