Lightie lands at YSSY

[UnderneathTheRadar]

A light plane lost above heavy cloud over Sydney today had to be radar guided onto one of Sydney airport's major runways, Airservices Australia says.

The unusual sight of seeing a tiny plane landing among giant Boeings had caused a number of onlookers to call authorities, an Airservices spokesman said.

The pilot of the plane, leaving an as yet unidentified departure point west of the Great Dividing Range, radioed air traffic control about 1310 AEDT saying he was lost.

"(The plane) was scheduled to go to Hoxton Park in Sydney and it got trapped above cloud - there's very thick cloud above Sydney and surrounding areas at the moment," the spokesman said.

"He was on a visual navigation flight, that is when the pilot can only navigate visually.

"So he had to be radar vectored by traffic controllers off the coast. They found a hole in the cloud for him.

"He then conducted an unscheduled landing at Sydney airport.

"I think that's raised some concerns about this light plane landing at Sydney airport.

"People are wondering what it's doing there."

The spokesman said the plane's pilot was safe and well and the plane had about 20 minutes' fuel left when it landed.

- AAP


My dream come true!

Gotta love the definition of visual navigation flight though...........

Also wish I had one of those radars that can find holes in cloud!

[OzExpat]

20 minutes of fuel left!!!! :eek: :uhoh: :confused:

[Ultralights]

20 mins of fuel, caught abouve 8/8 cloud. while VFR, someone will be in big trouble!


why would you call authorities seeing a lighty on approach to YSSY? i remember in the good ole days it was a regular occurance.

[Time Bomb Ted]

Someone declares an emergency once every 10 days for being caught in or above cloud.

They are only the reported ones too...

TBT

[megle2]

OK so he / she made a miscalculation.

Fortunately he / she had the sense to swallow their pride, declare the state of urgency and seek assistance.

It ended well and should give encouragement to others who find themselves in a similiar position to call for assistance. All too often it ends in sorrow.

Lets hope CASA use the positives.

The cynical side of me thinks "positives" would be a new experience for CASA!

[...still single]

Hear, hear Megle2

There, but for the grace of god...hang on, it might have been me... no, I haven't been to Sydney.

[ratpoison]

Well you aint missing much !!!

[DeBurcs]

"I think that's raised some concerns about this light plane landing at Sydney airport.Obviously a highly articulate spokeman. WTF is he trying to say??"People are wondering what it's doing there."So what? Let them wonder. Why is there such an over-supply of morons in the world?

Was it the spotters who called in this despicable crime??

Tools.

[kookabat]

Was it the spotters who called in this despicable crime??

No it wasn't. 'The Spotters', as you call them, are a little more informed about aviation issues in general than you'd think. They'd realise something was up - but that it's no cause for alarm. In fact there'd be no doubt someone would have had a scanner and so known precisely what was going on.

[Sunfish]

There but for the grace of god.......... Congratulations to all concerned on a safe outcome.

I wonder how much the landing fees were?:}

[rescue 1]

I reminded of "to err is human..."

Safe outcome - good job - where's the problem?

[speedbird23]

A number of years ago I was sitting on Qanats Dr waiting to watch the Concorde take off. It was being held for quite awhile. Then to the amusement or horror depending on point of view, a Cherokee landed on the crossing runway. Concorde was rolling shortly afterwards.

[shortandsmelly]

How much would you have loved to be that Cherokee pilot!!!!

what happened today? 'oh not much, I made Concorde hold for me to land...":ok:

[J430]

Pardon me for being argumentative but all the comments on only 20 minutes fuel remaining, thats plenty, after the emrgency diversion. Thats what the 45 minutes plus whatever else you plan for is actually for.

Yes one should not proceed over 8/8ths if VFR if there is no certain break on the other side, but when fog cathes out a QF A330 or a VFR has to go off sure to get buck under, that is a **** happens occasion. Should we do it as a matter of normal ops...NO, but its why we have safety margins so that when it gets ugly we have a bit up our sleeve, IFR or VFR.

Now if you were over water and no hole, how many would be confident to get the speeds right and the wings level and trimmed right to do a "coached" decent in IMC.

To all VFR's I would say keep the two hours of Instrument training brushed up, not so you can do illegal ops, but should you need to be monitored and coached back into VMC, you make it into VMC without becomeing a statistic.

Good job done by all I would say. And who ever said ATC in Sydney were not helpful......as for the CASA investigation, well we'll see!

At least if he or she writes a story for the Crash Comic they might win a prize for it and pay off some of the fine!!!!:}

Cheers

J:ok:

[HI'er]

He hadn't just flown in from Lord Howe Island, had he? :}

VFR over 8/8ths used to be allowed - from memory you had to be in sight of land or water again within 30 minutes.

[I Love This Show]

mmm...
Above 8/8ths VFR?
20 mins fuel left?
Proceed off shore to descend through cloud?
Sounds just like a typical meatbombing run :}

[Transition Layer]

The unusual sight of seeing a tiny plane landing among giant Boeings had caused a number of onlookers to call authorities, an Airservices spokesman said.

Bit of a worry isn't it, but little Johnny's scaremongering, aided by the media, is obviously working.

Today's St.George and Sutherland Shire Leader (surely Australia's worst excuse for a newspaper) contained some more of the same.

Apparently "shire" residents frantically called emergency hotlines last Wed night as the Qantas B744 made an early right turn off 16R towards Telstra Stadium for the soccer fly-over. They were adamant the aircraft was headed for the Lucas Heights reactor.

The media has a lot to answer for!

TL

[Capt Claret]

What are the folk of Alice going to say when taking off on 30 and turning left to head for the Rock?

Oh my god, they were heading straight for Pine Gap! :yuk: :yuk:

[Jerricho]

No no Capt......THEY WERE HEADING FOR THE ROCK!!

*gasp*

[150Aerobat]

I hope the pilot has an ASIC card, photo licence and DOTARS approved visible aircraft locking device. Otherwise 20 mins of fuel and stuck on top are the least of his problems.

[fixa24]

it is legal to fly above 8/8ths cloud if you have a visual position fix every 30 (i think) minutes, or if you are NVFR rated, every 120 mins....:ok:

[Wheeler]

Probably happens quite often - Heard a guy in a similar position not so long back. They were very good and most professional about it all. Same routine, took him out to sea (wonder whay they do that?!!!), asked him if anyone on board had instrument flying abilities, answer was 'no', then talked him down from about 4000'. Got him visual at about 1500 and asked him 'SY or BK?" He said BK, so I guess that's why no-one was any the wiser, except maybe CASA I guess.

Was that an SRA in this case? Did not know they could do them. If they can, it would be really sensible training for these situations.

[Googlewac]

How much would the landing fees be for a lightie at YSSY?

[Biggles_in_Oz]

from http://www.sydneyairport.com.au/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=12&page_id=15532288&query=aeronautical+fees

I'd say $50 for the runway, $0.98/tonne for terrorism, and $60/day for parking.

Oh., plus GST of course.

Nah.. that's too cheap for Mascot, I must have missed something somewhere.

Forgot to add $21 for Airservices arrival.
http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/pilotcentre/avcharge/Arrivalcostings.asp

[Pass-A-Frozo]

Transition Layer:
little Johnny's scaremongering

I assume you speak of our Prime Minister. To what "scaremongering" do you refer?