Five deceased in Mareeba accident

[Trash Hauler]

Reported on the ABC web site

Five dead in Mareeba plane crash

Police have confirmed that five people have died in a light plane crash west of the Mareeba airport, in far north Queensland.

Does anyone know any details, operator etc?

[Wirraway]

AAP

Five dead in plane crash
October 1, 2003

FIVE people have died in a light plane crash in north Queensland.

The twin-engine plane crashed in bushland 2km west of Mareeba airport, near Cairns, about 11.40am (AEST).

Three children and two adults were dead, paramedics at the scene confirmed.

It is uncertain whether they were from the same family.

A police spokewoman told NEWS.com.au that the plane crashed in light scrub and started a bush fire which fire fighters have extinguished.

She said it would take "some time" to retrieve the victims bodies "due to the state of the bodies" and that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau would then begin investigations.

She said it was not clear whether the plane crashed on take-off or landing.

Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) spokesman Peter Gibson said the plane was a twin-engine Piper Aztec registered interstate.

"The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will be going to the scene to begin the investigation and CASA will be supplying all details of the aircraft and pilot," Mr Gibson said.

It was not known if the plane's emergency beacon had been activated.

The pilot had not registered a flight plan.

AAP

=========================================

[Trash Hauler]

Very sad indeed! My thoughts go out to the families involved.

[Raider1]

Five dead in Qld plane crash


Five people have died in a light plane crash in north Queensland.

A police spokeswoman said the twin-engine plane crashed in bushland 2km west of Mareeba airport, near Cairns, about 11.40am (AEST).

Three children and two adults were dead, paramedics at the scene confirmed.

It is uncertain whether they were from the same family.

Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) spokesman Peter Gibson said the plane was a twin-engine Piper Aztec registered interstate.

Mr Gibson said it was not clear if it crashed on take-off or as it was attempting to land.

"The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will be going to the scene to begin the investigation and CASA will be supplying all details of the aircraft and pilot," Mr Gibson said.

He said police and ambulance officers found the plane on fire when they arrived.

It was not known if the plane's emergency beacon had been activated.

The pilot had not registered a flight plan.

[aerocom]

Just watching channel 10 news in sydney. They have just showed pictures of the aircraft still burning, can't these F**k heads have any consideration for other people who are greving. I know you guys who are working for these TV and radio companys are doing what you are told,but would you still be hovering like some scavenger if it was you family's remains burning away. No I am not related to anyone involved but these news companys need to be restricted to what they can do around an accident site. I remember some years ago were people died at an aircraft crash as a result that the rescue helicopter couldn't land as the media helicopter had shut down on the only landing site.

[Mr Whippy]

You've gotta wonder about the last two sentences in that news.com.au story, neither of them has any relevance to why the aircraft crashed and are pure speculation. The SMH report (thats an oxymoron) says the same bloody thing.:mad:

No wonder the public are scared. Let's be a bit smarter than the media - let's wait for the ATSB report rather than forming opinions without fact.

My condolences to the family and friends of the victims.

[bitter balance]

Mr Whippy, those comments are probably straight off an ATSB media release.

[Lefthanded_Rock_Thrower]

VH-WAC on Take Off

[RYAN TCAD]

I am so sorry to hear it was Gerald (from Bankstown Airport), his wife and three beautiful children.

Rest in peace my dear friend.

You will be missed so very much

Signed - a very sad Ryan Tcad.

[Mr Whippy]

Bitter Balance,

That may be so, you're probably right. One shouldn't post when annoyed about something. Even still, I don't think the general public needs to read those comments, at least without explanation. I've had several people who have nothing to do with aviation ask me tonight why the pilot hadn't submitted a flight plan, I asked them if they thought it was a bad thing, and every one of them said yes... is that what the victim's relatives would want people to think?

Anyway I know I'm being idealistic and maybe a little pedantic, the media will continue to do what it's been doing for years.

End of Rant.

[RYAN TCAD]

I am so sorry to hear it was Gerald (from Bankstown Airport), his wife and three beautiful children.

Rest in peace my dear friend.

You will be missed so very much

Signed - a very sad Ryan Tcad.

[Jet_A_Knight]

What a terribly occurrence.

I have known Gerry for the last 5 years or so and one could never hope to find a nicer and easy going person than him. He even managed to fix those confounded radios from time to time!

I never once thought in a million years that the last 'catch ya later' would be THE last.

God rest you and your family's souls in eternal peace, Gerry. We're gonna miss ya.

From a shocked and very very sad J.A.K.

:sad: :sad: :sad:

[SkySista]

Aerocom, I totally understand what you are talking about. While the media does have a job to do, I agree it could be done in a more sensitive way.

My father was killed in an accident 8 years ago. After the fact, we found out that before the police had even called on us, the story had been on the news, showing his distinctive work truck with license plate. My grandmother found out from that news bulletin with no one to be with her (as we hadn't known yet.) Yet another example of media rushing to get a story in.

On the topic, condolences to all families involved. Children too - what a tragedy.

Also, here in Perth, it seemed as though the pilot was mentioned as an afterthought. It gave the impression it was the 5 passengers and a pilot? Is this correct, or was the pilot one of the family?

RIP

SkySista

[Aussie Andy]

What an awful tragedy - so so sorry to hear this one.

Front page of SMH has story and picture: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/01/1064988273225.html

Andy

[Wirraway]

Thurs "Sydney Morning Herald"

A family's air adventure ends in tragedy
By Philip Cornford, Juan-Carlo Tomas and AAP
October 2, 2003

http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1064988275132_2003/10/02/2octplanefam.jpg
"They were wonderful people" . . . Gerald and Carolyn Mall with children Elysse, Amy and David. Photo: Gabriele Charotte

Twice a year, Sydney executives Gerald and Carolyn Mall took time off from their hectic city lives to take their three children on a flying adventure in remote parts of Australia.

Yesterday, Ms Mall's colleagues at Ernst&Young were shocked when told that the couple and their children - David, 10, Amy, 7, and Elysse, 5 - had died after their light aircraft crashed on the Atherton Tableland in North Queensland.

The school holiday adventure appears to have ended in tragedy two minutes after take-off from Mareeba, near Cairns.

Mr Mall, 43, an experienced pilot, was at the controls of his twin-engined Piper Aztec when it crashed into cane fields and burst into flames at about 11.40am. No one survived.

Shortly before takeoff, the six-seater aircraft took on a full load of fuel at Carpentaria Aircraft Maintenance after being parked on the tarmac while the family was in the small rural community of Mareeba.

A farmer, Mary Bonaccorci, said she heard a plane overhead. "Then it was sort of losing control and then [I heard] a bang and then I saw the black smoke come up into the air."

Ms Mall, 39, was a partner specialising in tax with Ernst&Young, one of Australia's Big Four accounting firms. An article about her, published in BRW magazine in 1999, said Mr Mall ran an avionics business at Bankstown Airport, where his plane was parked.

A sister-in-law of Mr Mall said police had called to say the family may be the victims, but that the bodies had not been identified.

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau spokesman, Peter Saint, said: "We have advice that it was a family of five on board."

The couple and their children lived in a two-storey house on the waterfront at Connells Point, on the Georges River near Hurstville.

The family had spent about four days in Mareeba, 70 kilometres west of Cairns, and were heading south for the last week of the school holidays.

For Elysse, the air safaris began while she was a two-month-old baby carried in a papoose pouch.

By then, David and Amy were veterans of airborne adventures to out-of-the-way destinations.

"We can see 40 crocs in an afternoon," Ms Mall said in the magazine article. "The plane gets us so far that in half a day I can switch off from work completely.

"We also wind up sometimes in huts or stockmen's quarters on cattle properties. The novelty doesn't wear out for the kids."

At the Mall's home last night, a blue Camry was parked in the driveway, the shutters were drawn, the house empty.

A neighbour, Rick, said: "They were wonderful people. Our kids went to school together, played with each other every day. We were more friends than neighbours."

Another neighbour, Tom Simeonidis, said: "They were a loving family. The boy was very polite."

=========================================
Rest in Peace

[Hawk]

Very sad news. Thoughts and condolences from Far North Qld to their friends and colleagues

[Sheep Guts]

My condolences to all concerned. Very Tragic news......

Does anyone now know the rego of the machine involved. That paint scheme in the photo looks like the old N.T. based one.


Regards
Sheep

R.I.P.:(

[PILOTGAL]

From the aircraft register, it seems it was WAC.

Sad day, thoughts go out to those affected.

[Bad medicine]

A terrible thing to happen. Condolences to friends and family alike.

The Courier Mail had a photo of the aircraft still burning, with the remains of the occupants still in it. Appalling - I don't know how they sleep at night.

[Hudson]

The photo of the wreckage in the Melbourne Age seems to show that one prop is feathered.

[Jamair]

Terrible news - my heartfelt sympathies to their families, friends and all who knew them.

[mulgabill]

Ver sad, particularly when children are involved.

WAC was a fine aircraft having spent time in Wyndham with as the meatworks aircraft, and also at Jedda Aviation in bankstown where it was WELL looked after.

[Trash Hauler]

My thoughts go out to the investigators wo will have very lttle to work on.

A difficult task providnig reasonable answers to the questions in the minds of family and friend.

[NAMPS]

Link to ATSB report just released:

http://www.atsb.gov.au/aviation/pdf/200304091.pdf

Edit by friendy central woomera to make the link work. :}

[7gcbc]

Harrowing, so sad and very upsetting stuff, had a few beers before I read this and ended up in tears. <had to hide the page from my wife>

Those commercial media channels really need a good kick up the.. :mad: