Rotorway Exec Crash Mt. Beauty AUS

[flyagain]

Unconfirmed reports of a Rotorway Exec crashing in Mt. Beauty Australia (near Falls Creek) 30 minutes ago. The pilot has apparently died in the accident.

[Time Out]

Emergency services head to helicopter crash scene
Police and emergency services are trying to reach a helicopter, which crashed and burst into flames in north-east Victoria.

It came down in a paddock at Tawonga South, just north of the Mount Beauty airstrip about 11:00am AEDT.

Emergency services have been driven back by the flames.

Tanya Wayland from Rural Ambulance says all available resources in the Mount Beauty area have been sent to the crash site.

"We've got a crew there at the moment," she said.

"They can't get to the helicopter because of a fire and we've also got two other crews dispatched and some of our paramedics on the way.

"There's also a helicopter heading to the scene and I believe a second one on stand by."
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1603521.htm

[CYHeli]

From www.news.com (http://www.news.com)
A MAN in his 30s died when his ultralight helicopter crashed and burst into flames today near Mt Beauty in the Victoria's north-east.
The aircraft crashed in a paddock beside Damms Road at Tawonga South, 350km north-east of Melbourne, about 10.50am (AEDT), police said.
Police believe the victim was a local man, but have yet to release his name.
Tanya Wayland, from the Rural Ambulance Service, said the aircraft's lone occupant had died in the burning wreck.
"It was an ultralight, with a single occupant," Ms Wayland said.

Too young, but living the dream.

[Gotagivitago]

Just read this report on ninemsn,
Man dies in ultralight chopper crash
Wednesday Mar 29 17:54 AEDT
A father tried in vain to pull his son from the burning wreckage of a home-built helicopter after it crashed in Victoria.
The pilot, aged in his early 30s, was incinerated in the wreckage of his two-seater RotorWay kit helicopter shortly before 11am.
It had crashed upside down in a paddock at Tawonga South, near Mount Beauty, 350 km north-east of Melbourne.
The pilot's father was a member of a Country Fire Authority crew called to the crash site, and was first on the scene.
Senior Sergeant Doug Incoll of Bright police said the dead man could not yet be formally identified but was well known to locals.
"He's a local male from a family that has been well entrenched with the community for some time," Sen-Sgt Incoll told AAP.
"His father was first on the scene. He's shattered, obviously.
"He tried to drag him out but he couldn't because of the fire. He's just shattered.
"It's a small community. It will affect everyone and it will do for some time."
The machine plunged to earth and came to rest upside down in a blackberry thicket surrounded by trees beside the Kiewa River, about 1.5 km from the Mount Beauty airstrip.
"It looks like he may have been doing a manoeuvre called an auto-rotation, which is an unpowered decline," said Sen-Sgt Incoll.
"Some debris was seen falling from the helicopter but we're not able to identify the cause of the crash until it's investigated."
It's believed the man was the sole occupant of the helicopter, but because of the fire and wreckage, emergency crews could not be certain, he said.
CFA regional operations manager Graeme Armstrong said it was a difficult scene for Mount Beauty and Tawonga fire crews to confront.
"From my perspective I was very pleased with the fire fight and the scene preservation done by the fire brigades," Mr Armstrong said.
"They did a very good job keeping the disturbance of the scene to a minimum and really limiting the number of (their) people exposed to the scene."
RotorWay International claims to the world's oldest and largest kit helicopter manufacturer, with it origins in the 1960s.
The Arizona-based company is wholly owned by its employees and has sold helicopter kits in 50 countries.
The coroner was to visit the crash scene.
©AAP 2006
Very sad indeed. Condolences to the family. May he Rest In Peace.

[R22DRIVER]

That must of been horrendous for his father.

RIP & Condolences

[22clipper]

It had 'dare to dream' sign painted down the side of it, poor bugger. Such a scenic part of the world down there along the Kiewa river to loose your life. But then that's the way of it sometimes? When you're switched on & focused thinking "I get killed doing this if I'm not careful" things work out OK but on a beautiful sunny day flying through eye candy..........

[flyagain]

Sounds like he was practising auto's. Just saw a picture and the blades were still mostly intact, just bent.

Condolences to his wife and two young children. RIP