Originally Posted by
Squawk7700
Empty weight ~370kg. Full fuel would be overweight for sure if there was any decent baggage and equipment on board.
Yes - with the full fuel load of 130L, it would likely be over, but what if they only loaded fuel to bring it up to MTOW? MTOW = 600 kg, probable BEW = 370, and lets assume the pilot was 90 kg and pax 60 kg, and they had 20 kgs extras in back. ZFW = 540.
So, based on what my identical Brumby 610 requires, you could then fit 60 kgs of fuel into it = 80L. Divide this by an average burn of 18LPH for a 90-95 KTAS cruise, and you should have an endurance of 270 mins ex William Creek. For a distance of 148nm, based on an average cruise of 90 kts, the required cruise time is 1:39 for a fuel consumption of 30L. In the prevailing 'westerley' wx, a Brumby 610 was more likely to achieve 100+ on that track. By my calcs, there could have been as much as 50L in the tanks - always provided that they left William Creek with a max allowable fuel load.
It's likely there are many lessons to be re-learned from this accident. I hope that RAAus determine all immediately relevant factors, and informs the pilot community as soon as they are able.