Light plane crash at Mount Cook

[aero junkie]

Searchers have found one person alive from the missing light plane reported overdue in Mount Cook late this afternoon.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4178750a10.html

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/1322693

[First_Principal]

Good to hear both have survived although the pilot is seriously injured.

The passenger walked out to raise the alarm, the crash itself was near Lake Tekapo.There's a report that they were from the North Shore Aero Club, no other info I'm aware of at this stage.

[Shunter]

Wow, really saddened to hear of this. Was lucky enough to get my first Pu/t time there a good few years ago and it's an amazing place to fly (http://toftconsulting.com/cook.jpg) :sad:

Hope all make it through ok.

[92Alpha]

Best wishes to them both and a speedy recovery.

[aero junkie]

Glad to hear both made it out! All the best with the recovery. Plane involved was a two seater Robin R2120.

Latest on the news
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4179608a10.html

[hard_yakka]

One of the crew was a senior instructor at the NS aero club. Not sure which one did the walking and which one was winched out.

I'm relieved they both survived it. I've only flown through that area once, and there were times I thought, "Man!, if we fall out of the sky now, they may never find us..."

It can get really rugged up in the alpine back-blocks. :ooh:

[Got the horn]

It's tiger country down there, have C172'd up and down the Southern Alps a few times. A speedy recovery to the both of them!

[aero junkie]

Just saw some footage on a news update, and the plane is in bad shape, amazing that they both survived!

[toolowtoofast]

Good on ya Richard - sounds like he may have played a significant role in saving his student's life.


From the Herald:

A Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) spokeswoman said Bateman was "battered and bruised", but in a "fair state, given that he was able to walk 5km in steep terrain".

[6080ft]

any clues as to what happened?

[hard_yakka]

Currently hinted at in media reports is that an alpine down-draught exceeded their ability to climb. Totally unconfirmed at this stage (but somewhat plausible).

I've flown the R2160 (from Alpha), but not the R2120, so I'm not sure what the lower power model is like in climb performance.

TV news video footage of the aircraft showed it came to rest across the slope of the hillside. Wings were bent down, but not twisted forward (or back), so it is possible that they have come down at a flat angle at low-ish forward speed. Couldn't see much in the way of scrape marks and debris indicating direction of travel at impact. Mind you, could just be a function of the rugged terrain.

I guess the details will become apparent as the CAA interviews and investigates.

[kiwi chick]

Latest I heard quoted from the father of one of the pilots:

'I was told that they were practising turning in a confined area... there are no warnings whatsoever of downdraghts, or clear air turbulence... their wheels hit some rocks... then they impacted"

So it would appear that the terrain outclimbed them - but of course this is heresay.

Hard Yakka :D

I'm relieved they both survived it. I've only flown through that area once, and there were times I thought, "Man!, if we fall out of the sky now, they may never find us..."

I had to laugh!! I thought the same thing and totally crapped myself until we touched down in Tekapo... lol ;)

[Borneo Wild Man]

Some of you people should go back to your Flt sims and let the investigators do there work.

Onya RB
My beers!

[kiwi chick]

I've never played Flight Sim, never will, and I said quite clearly

but of course this is heresay.

(but I do know how to spell.... ;) )

No-one was being nasty, just chatting amongst mates. Can I ask why you came into this thread? :sad:

[empacher48]

The weather conditions at the time were a fine day, with a light to moderate Sou-West wind at 10,000' (about 25 to 30 knots) that was easing throughout the day. Certainly get some interesting effects from the terrain around the park from the Sou-West winds, no matter what strength.

The valley they were in is a very confined area, with only one way in and out, the terrain does get very steep around all 3 sides, is narrow and somewhere I would not like to put an aeroplane on purpose, it would be anyones guess as to areas of lift and sink in that valley during the wind conditions. But we will let the CAA or TAIC look into it, and see what the end result is.

[hard_yakka]

Borneo Wild Man

I wasn't casting any aspersions on your friend's ability as a pilot, just reporting some observations from the TV news footage.

RB's 8km walk to the musterer's hut with a baseball cap holding his head together is going to become a legendary piece of aviation lore in NZ. I certainly respect him for his grit and determination.

However, I don't think that there is a pilot amongst us who hasn't indulged in a bit of speculation after an incident, even if proven to be completely off-base by the resulting investigation.

For example... (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2368425#post2368425)

Cheers

[kiwi chick]

Yeah, what he said.

Here's some more info.... and i bite my tongue.

Mt Cook accident (http://www.stuff.co.nz/4182613a10.html)

As Hard Yakka said, he's impressive in the fact that he walked that far with his head taped together. :D

[ScottyDoo]

A New Zealand flight instructor has told how he taped his scalp to his head and set out to find help after his light plane crashed in rugged terrain.

Richard Bateman, 27, told the Timaru Herald he thought he was going to die when his plane crashed on Sunday in mountains in New Zealand's South Island.

The plane clipped the side of a mountain while Bateman attempted a manoeuvre to gain air speed.

Seeing student pilot Nick Eagleson was unconscious in the plane, Bateman managed to rip part of the canopy off the plane and leave the aircraft, despite suffering a broken arm and wrist.

He freed Eagleson from the wreckage and laid him on the plane's wing.

Bleeding profusely, Bateman then used tape in a survival kit he had packed for the trip, to hold his loose scalp onto his head.

"I was concerned for myself. I was losing a lot of blood, I was pretty shattered. I thought there was a fairly good possibility I could die," he told the newspaper.

He set off his own personal emergency beacon, worried that the plane's would not be functioning, and set out on foot to get help.

About two hours later and having walked 8km he arrived at a mustering hut and lit fires from dried grass until he was able to attract a helicopter.

Bateman was taken to hospital where he had his arm and wrist treated and had surgery to reattach his scalp.

Eagleson was flown to Christchurch Hospital and underwent surgery on a chipped vertebra and had a broken pelvis and cuts to his head treated.




Well done to this kiwi who had his poop all in one sock. Probably saved both their lives. :ok:

[empacher48]

I was talking to some of the guys involved with the initial search for the missing aircraft today. But just a request to put a few things straight.

They said that the instructor that walked out to the hut, although did amazingly well to do that considering the state he was in, he is a lot luckier than he realises that he was found!!

There were three aircraft being used for the initial search, two THL helicopters, and a Nomad from Air Safaris, one helicopter and the Nomad were searching for the beacons using Direction Finding equipment installed in the aircraft, and the second helicopter using terrain masking to aid in the DF equipped aircraft.

The beacon was locked onto and found by the Nomad and non-DF equipped helicopter at least 15 to 20 minutes BEFORE the second helicopter, enroute to the accident site after refuelling, just happened to enter the valley, and fly over the hut to the accident site, and noticed the fire. Initially the fire was thought to have been hunters/climbers/trampers/musterers (and any other type of outdoors enthusiast that use the hundreds of huts in the area at all times of the year, so fire or smoke is nothing different), but a second look found someone obviously injured, and was thought to be nothing related to the accident.

The advice for ANYONE flying into the area here, is that there are always aircraft equipped with DF equipment, and are called in by RCC ANYTIME there is a beacon activiated, whether it be an ELT or PLB carried by pilots, hunters, climbers etc. But as long as the ELT is working the beacon can be found reasonably quickly. If you attempt to walk out and NOT have a beacon yourself there is a good chance you'll never be found, unless you do manage to walk out to civilisation (which unless you do have climbing skills is an extremely slim chance).

I have noticed the Air Safaris are starting to install a basic aerodrome lighting system, to be used in emergencies (most of the PLBs that go off seem to happen during the hours of darkness, so if something happens even at night, an DF equipped aircraft can be airborne almost 24 hours a day).

But to the guys down here involved with the search, the aircraft and student were a reasonably easy find. The instructor who walked out is the one who is incredibly lucky to have been found alive.