niceneasy
21st Nov 2005, 10:01
'Lost' plane lands among giant Boeings
November 21, 2005 - 3:25PM
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
November 21, 2005 - 3:25PM
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