Aerobatic pilot killed - General - News - smh.com.au
Aerobatic pilot killed
Tom Moon ...killed in today's crash.
Picture: Peter Morris
A true gentleman of aviation. The community has suffered a massive loss... my phone has been ringing off the hook with people that just can't believe it
Georgina Robinson
January 20, 2009 - 12:51PM
A champion aerobatic pilot and good friend of Sydney businessman David Lowy has been killed in a plane crash in NSW's Riverina this morning.
Sydney accountant Tom Moon was flying his aerobatic plane at Temora Airport when it crashed about halfway along the runway near the Temora Aviation Museum just after 10.30am.
Mr Moon was the museum's treasurer and one of its directors. His biography on the museum website says he was a chartered accountant for 24 years and obtained his pilot's licence in 1986.
He had more than 1400 hours flying experience, 1100 of those spent flying aerobatics.
"Mr Moon won the Australian National Aerobatic Championships in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003 and has competed at three World Championships where he was the highest placed Australian in two of those events," his biography states.
'One of the most qualified'
"He has won the NSW title six times and has been Australian Freestyle Champion five times. He is regarded as one of the most qualified and awarded aerobatic pilots in Australia and performs regularly at airshows and sporting events."
Mr Moon's mentor was the French world champion aerobatic pilot, Xavier de Lapparent.
Temora is about 80 kilometres north of Wagga Wagga in the south-west Riverina district.
The airport was home to an RAAF flying school from 1941 until 1946 and was used for a variety of aviation sports for five decades until David Lowy set up the Temora Aviation Museum on the site in 1999.
An article published in the
Herald in 2006 said Moon and Lowy were flying mates who found the old Temora aerodrome and converted it into a national aviation museum.
"It's enormous what [Lowy's] done," Moon said at the time.
"It's respected worldwide as one of the best war aviation museums in the world.
"It's interestingly one of the only museums where everything flies. We don't want static aeroplanes sitting around gathering dust."
It is understood Mr Lowy is overseas at the moment. A spokeswoman for the Westfield group said the company would not comment on the crash.
A museum employee said she could not comment on the crash.
Tributes
Contributors to online pilots' forum PPRuNE say the aircraft involved was an Extra 300 series aerobatic plane.
They paid tribute to the pilot, who has yet to be formally identified, but is understood to be a champion acrobatic pilot from Sydney who regularly flew in airshows and sporting events.
"A true gentleman of aviation," one said. "The community has suffered a massive loss... my phone has been ringing off the hook with people that just can't believe it."
Another contributor wrote: "He, in his unique way, has done so much for so many in Aviation and elsewhere over the years!"
I am sure he would have wished to be in no other seat than that one when the time came to meet the maker!
"RIP Cobba!!!"Temora Aero Club president Rob Maslin said details about the crash were sketchy at this stage.
"I can't comment much on it, other than it's a single engine aircraft that crashed with one man on board," Mr Maslin said.
Crash investigators were travelling to airport to investigate, police said.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
A report is also being prepared by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
In the other incident, paramedics are treating two people who got out of a light plane that slipped and flipped on a runway at the Old Bar Airstrip near Taree just after 10am.
RIP TOM
Di
