And another

[Mick.B]

One person is believed to have been killed in a light plane crash in south-east Victoria.
The Country Fire Authority said they were notified a plane had crashed into a paddock near Edden Road at Woodleigh, in Gippsland, about 8.40am (AEDT).
Police say they have unconfirmed reports an occupant of the single-engine plane has died.
"It's a single-engine plane, possibly it clipped some power lines," police spokeswoman Sergeant Creina O'Grady said.
"They will have the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and the aviation people down there having a look but that's all I have at the moment."

From ABC News

[QNH1013.2]

1 dead, single occupant.

A tragic day for those left behind and those that watched the event unfold on what was Christmas morning. Their Christmas will never be the same again.

If you are thinking about doing something stupid, don't do it for the sake of everyone that knows you.

[Desert Flower]

OMG - that is two. Please lord - no more!

DF.

[Jabawocky]

If you are thinking about doing something stupid, don't do it for the sake of everyone that knows you.

So what was it that was so stupid Mr QNH?

J

[Launchpad McQuack]

Albeit on the other side of the ditch with a more positive outcome...

Surf club members rescued the pilot of a light aircraft after he was forced to ditch in the sea south of Whangarei today.

The Cessna plunged into the sea near Ruakaka Surf Club and the pilot managed to get out of the cockpit before the aircraft quickly sank.

Pilot rescued by surf club members - New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz (http://www.stuff.co.nz/4802988a11.html)

Let's hope that's the last we hear of this kind of news for while....


LP

[over_centre]

So what was it that was so stupid Mr QNH?

Alleged low level fly-past to impress the local kiddies. :bored:

[QNH1013.2]

No need for any more speculation, it's all over the Herald Sun. Hopefully it is a deterrent for others who continue to behave this way.

[lowerlobe]

One death is one too many but let's keep this in perspective.

So far this holiday season 25 people have died on our roads..

If 25 people had been killed in aviation accidents over the christmas holiday period in Australia there would be calls for air travel to be banned....

[Stacko]

"Our initial inquiries lead us to believe that each Christmas morning in the last number of years he did a fly-by on the property just as a way of wishing everyone a good day," Insp said.

while my heart goes out to the family and I am truly sorry for their loss; low-flying is a dangerous practice. Everyone who reads this should be all the more aware that what we do is a serious business. This idiot could just of easily crashed into a house or killed innocent people on the ground. If he hit your house you wouldn't be thanking him for his Xmas morning "fly-by". He broke the rules and was killed. Do you ever wonder why we have CAR 157? It was a rule designed to protect him from himself, yet he chose to flaunt it.

One less of that type of person is no loss to aviation.

[QNH1013.2]

30 years piloting experience is actually more like 4 in this instance.

[Wally Mk2]

Look nobody likes to hear of a tragic event such as this but behind every steering wheel of every plane is a human, experience means nothing, you can get very dead from doing something you THINK is safe.
Stay alert pilots!

A life has been taken, left behind is only sadness.


Wmk2

[RadioSaigon]

One less of that type of person is no loss to aviation

hmmm... whilst I don't condone senseless risk-taking in aircraft, I suspect that none of us know this individuals background. For all we know he may be an experienced ag operator, a display pilot or someone that in the course of their career has spent a lot of time at low-level. Speculation and vilification here is both pointless and hurtful to those that may read this thread that have had an association with the lost pilot.

May I suggest Stacko that "that type of person" was probably -almost certainly in fact- the type of person that had family, friends and associates that are today, Xmas Day no less, suffering the loss of someone for whom they cared deeply.

Your comments Stacko are offensive and insensitive in the extreme, particularly today. I note you are a recent probationary participant here. I hope the mods see fit to give you a permanent exemption from posting your ill-considered, intemperate, insensitive comments ever again.

[QNH1013.2]

I really do feel for the family in this instance as the crash was 100% avoidable, no question. It did NOT need to happen which makes it so much worse. Not only his family and friends, but the neighbours, their grand kids and the poor girl who watched the plane hit the ground and literally explode.

Please, please, please don't do beat-ups and low fly-bys no matter how fun it might seem at the time !!!

The pilot was a private pilot with limited to medium experience.

[burty]

Your comments Stacko are offensive and insensitive in the extreme, particularly today. I note you are a recent probationary participant here. I hope the mods see fit to give you a permanent exemption from posting your ill-considered, intemperate, insensitive comments ever again. Radio Saigon


Well said.

[Horatio Leafblower]

Every time there is a GA prang there is a rash of people speculating as to the cause of the prang.

This is followed by a rash of prancing pompous gits crying "don't speculate! Wait for the ATSB!"

It is so very disappointing that very often the First Chorus is usually correct and the first summation of the accident will get you very close to the cause.

PPL doing a low-level beat-up, has a history of beat-ups, kills himself in front of his family. That's a new one :rolleyes:

Pilot presses weather over the Liverpool ranges to get home for Christmas. Crashes and one person killed... That's a new one too! happened 10 years ago, almost to the day, in almost the same spot.

This sort of thing just makes me cranky. :suspect:

Go on... hang me for "speculating" :hmm:

[Stacko]

I note you are a recent probationary participant here. I hope the mods see fit to give you a permanent exemption from posting your ill-considered, intemperate, insensitive comments ever again. Today 17:08

A probationary member?

I may not post often. But I have read these forums for several years. I lost my registration details and re-registered in April. Just because I dont shoot my mouth off in a "two-posts-a-day" manner - like a lot of ppl here - doesnt mean that what I say is any less poignant. And while that person had a family, friends and colleagues - that is no different to any one of us. We all have those things - every one of us - and that is why I behave responsibly when I am the Pilot In Command. Its the decision making skills that keep us from tragedy; if you are relying on luck (as some have suggested) then I recomend a career change.

Was his low flying in accordance with the relevant CAR's, CAO's etc? If they were then I apologise and withdraw my statement. Otherwise, I ask the moderators to use "moderation" when viewing my post and please PM if there is any further req'mnt. Indeed, I said that my heart goes out to his family, but this is an aviation forum - lets discuss this issue in that context. A little less emotion would go a long way. Please PM if u have anything further to add.

Regards

Stax.

[Wally Mk2]

'stax' whilst I do think some of yr comments where a little insensitive (such comments serves little purpose) I do however believe yr post is relevant.
Like I said above here experience can at the end of the day mean nothing. Being that low (as to hit power lines) is dumb. Unless yr ldg & or T/off you have no place down there being 'clever' (allowed low level ops not inc here) especially in the front of people who will no doub thave an indelible inprint in their minds forever. The ATSB will be able to wrap this one quickly I would think.


Wmk2

[Brian Abraham]

One less of that type of person is no loss to aviation
An intemperate comment at the very least, on this day of goodwill especially. There but for the grace of God go all of us, unless Stacko you are one of the greater mortals who has never made a mistake. The only difference between the living (yourself excluded) and this unfortunate gentleman is that thus far the mistakes we have made have been made in favourable circumstances. The name of the game is to fill the bag of experience without emptying the bag of luck.

[Stacko]

As I said, if you wish to respond to me directly we can take it to PM. I've said my piece and had my right of reply. I see no further benefit to this thread by defending my comments further (which I have made with a clear conscience).

Everyone of these guys that kills himself breaking the rules makes the rest of us look like cowboys. Thats why i said what I did. The fact that it is Christmas makes no difference to the situation or the law.

[RadioSaigon]

in order of appearance...

Horatio Leafblower -nowhere in my post did I say anything about the ATSB or waiting for reports. Like you, I can speculate as to the possible cause of a crash and frequently do -the difference however is that I will usually keep that speculation to myself, possibly discuss it with associates but would hesitate to post that speculation in a public forum. Am I to assume that you would class me as "a prancing pompous git" because of that??? As you noted in another thread, there is nothing new under the sun... I agree. There are few if any "new" causes of aircraft crashes, just as there are few if any "new" causes of car crashes. The loss of life is no less tragic, the circumstances no more unique. The difference is that for car crashes there are few presumably professional public forums which the media frequent in search of quotable one-liners from the victims peers.

Stacko: I agree. A little less emotion would go a long way... precisely why I took exception to your comments. Your emotive characterisation of the victim as an idiot and your "no-loss" comment are in my opinion unnecessary, inflammatory and on this day of all days extremely insensitive.

Show some empathy for the victims extended family!!! Keep in mind that you Horatio Leafblower, you Stacko or any one of us may too make a mistake that ends our careers or life. How do you think you would feel reading these sort of comments and judgements of the final choice of your life? How do you think your family would feel reading those comments? How fair do you think it is to have your character, your life and/or ability as a pilot summed-up in one pithy little wise-crack -from someone that never even knew you as a pilot... or a person?

If you think you are comfortable with that, then fill your boots. But I'll tell you now, it's precisely that sort of **** that offends me most. I've lost some damn good mates over the years. Thankfully many of them before this facility to assasinate their characters existed. Ill-considered excoriations of the deceased do no-one any good. Subsequent attempts at justification of those comments merely sicken me. :yuk:

There are lessons to be learned from every aircraft crash, as there are no doubt here today. Learn the lesson, but leave the rest of the crap under your lid.

[Horatio Leafblower]

I didn't refer to you in my post. If the cap fits, chum... :ooh:

I have made a LOT of stupid decisions in aeroplanes and I have committed both the sins that have killed our comrades today and yesterday. Through luck or good management I didn't wear through the last layers of safety (or I haven't yet)

If I die in an aircraft accident (as PIC) there is a 70-80% probability that I made a really dumb decision that directly led to the accident. I have repeatedly told my wife and parents that and same goes for all of us.

...and at the risk of hubris ... if I spear it in, fill yer boots.

I won't care... I'll be dead.

I would also hope that my mistakes are held up as an example to others, no matter how stupid I have been :sad:

[Brian Abraham]

A wise man once told me that the key to success in this game depends solely on how you hold your mouth. I looked puzzled initially, so he answered my question. 'You can tell a lot about what is going through a persons mind by the way they hold their mouth.’ If someone has a confident grin, then they are probably in control of their actions. If they looked shocked, then they have probably done something for the first time, or they just realised that they’ve done something that they probably shouldn’t. However the most important thing about how you how you hold your mouth is how big it needs to be if someone asks you to swallow a piece of….
Humble Pie.
There are many ingredients in humble Pie, the most flavoursome being pride. You will definitely taste the pride as you swallow your first piece. The remaining ingredients are like the eleven secret herbs and spices, mysterious though a recognisable flavour. As life goes on, you’ll grow accustomed to the taste and might learn to savour the flavour. If you live to be older and bolder, normally it becomes your job to pass on the recipe to the younger generation. When someone tells you that they’ve eaten it before, believe them, it is true. Everybody eats humble pie, sooner or later.

If you don’t like Humble Pie and aren’t prepared to eat it, then the next time you are in a situation which warrants eating another piece, you might be wishing that you had a tasting, just for good karma. A frosty cold beverage aids digestion. Obey your thirst…SIMPLE.

Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed

Responsibility lies with those who could act but do not, it lies with those who could learn but do not, and for those who evaluate it can add to their capacity to make interventions which might make all our lives the safer.

My guess is Horatio and RadioSaigon have had more than the odd serving of pie judging by their posts, and I'd lay a penny to a pound Wally would admit to sneaking the odd piece. I've had more than my share.

[Tidbinbilla]

Thanks Brian Abraham for your words of wisdom.:ok:

TID