Originally Posted by
TBL Warrior
There ya go
I’d put a slab it’s the old Lealea strip
Thanks, Amazing pic. I found it on google about 30 miles from PM.
The current google map shows about 2600 feet too short for a fully loaded 402 on a rough field
with scrub at one end. The news pic does not show any increase in field length from the google pic
on the crash end. It appears this pilot was dumber than dumb when it came to reading take off charts
which might end up being a defence, that he deliberately crashed it in order to get caught.
Either way, it appears Australia knew all about this operation long before it happened.
I'm guessing the AFP called him on his mobile and told him to turn himself in.
Speaking of dumb, Mareeba has many eyes watching for anything unusual
and odds are the AFP phone lines were ringing like crazy each time VH-TSI did anything.
Then you have the primary and secondary radar facilities, that TSI would have triggered 3 in Australia
and at least 2 in PNG and thats just the obvious tracking info from ground based primary radar.
It appears that the pilot had his transponder on which makes you wonder about the claim
he kept it at 3000 feet to avoid radar. At 3000 feet, this pilot would have been visible for
most of his flight in Aus and PNG.
The Australian reported "
David John Cutmore, 52, a former flying instructor in Townsville and Melbourne"
AFP Link
"operations Withers?"
"to collect MORE THAN 500 KG" of Cocaine." "worth more than AUD $80 million.
"Criminal Syndicate from Victoria"
"over two years of investigation"