Incident @ Tumut circa. 1998?

[alphawhiskeytango]

Can anyone shed some light on the crash in October 1998 near Tumut. I was visiting Tumut on a fishing holiday at the time and well before I took up flying myself. As I recall the aircraft was heard passing over the town very low late at night/early hours of the morning. The following day I remember seeing a Twin partly submerged in a dam short of the airfield but on the extended centreline. No report of it on the ATSB site that I can find. Somebody must know the story?

[alphawhiskeytango]

VH-EUM A36 attempted to land on a road having become lost flying between Broken Hill and Melbourne. Circled overhead Tumut at 11.30pm before attempting to land on a road east of town. Clipped a tree and ended up in a lagoon. No serious injuries to the 32 year old sole occupant however the aircraft was substantially damaged.

Note: Details of the event courtesy of the Tumut and Adelong Times

[Lead Balloon]

If he was on his way from Broken Hill to Melbourne and ended up at Tumut, “lost” is probably not the word. Unless he was taking a “very scenic” route. (And an A36 is not a twin...)

[alphawhiskeytango]

Certainly was the scenic route!!

My recollection of it being a twin I will put down to old age. The rest of the story according to newspaper reports is as I recalll.

[Lead Balloon]

Are you confident about being in the right place at the right time?

According to the ATSB website, EUM did a bit of ‘slicing and dicing’ of other aircraft on the ground at YMMB in late ‘97, during the course of which EUM itself suffered substantial damage. I suppose it’s possible for the same aircraft to have been back in the air in ‘98 so that someone could fly her into the drink near Tumut after getting lost on the way from Broken Hill to Melbourne. If true, it seems to me that EUM was a good aircraft abused by incompetent pilots...

[alphawhiskeytango]

Photographic evidence confirms that the aircraft involved in the Tumut accident was EUM. The same aircraft was also involved in a landing incident at Ceduna in 1983 where it was substantially damaged. Tumut was a case of third time unlucky for EUM.....

[Lead Balloon]

Photographic evidence confirms that the aircraft involved in the Tumut accident was EUM. The same aircraft was also involved in a landing incident at Ceduna in 1983 where it was substantially damaged. Tumult was a case of third time unlucky for EUM.....A little surprising that the final demise of the aircraft appears not to have rated an ATSB report...

[alphawhiskeytango]

Which begs the question - why was there no ATSB report? Surely when someone gets lost in the middle of the night between Broken Hill and Melbourne and ends up in a lagoon on the outskirts of Tumut I would have thought something would be researched.

[Lead Balloon]

Or....

Maybe what you think happened didn’t happen...

[alphawhiskeytango]

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/840x1189/e19f3314_d94b_4e5d_b690_3adec91166b5_febeb9e811df6eaea49e90a bb327b2cea9f73201.jpeg

[wombat watcher]

It appears not to be a Bonanza. It is much bigger. Large very vertical tail Fin. Distinctive antennae on top front of hull.
AWB first post said it was a twin.

[Lead Balloon]

AWB. As WW says, the thing in the photo is not a Bonanza. It does have a distinctive ‘Flying V’ antenna, but it is not a Bonanza.

[alphawhiskeytango]

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/841x1190/fc8b78b3_0bf3_4529_b330_6c6bffad84b3_aaf17fd54d6e66995ea000f fa71ccd4568037605.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/841x1190/fc8b78b3_0bf3_4529_b330_6c6bffad84b3_aaf17fd54d6e66995ea000f fa71ccd4568037605_5de901e61ec3b2585116f3b9adfc31faf015a671.j peg

[Capt Fathom]

Sneaky buggers. They’ve disguised it to look like a Bonanza! :E

[alphawhiskeytango]

The “thing” looks like a bonanza now

[Lead Balloon]

It does.

Yet - amazingly - there does not appear to be anything on the ATSB website about an accident/incident around that area around that time.

[Lead Balloon]

According to the articles, the pilot’s name is “Russell Putland”. Why not look him up, AWT?

[BEACH KING]

Ahhh... Pprune at it's finest

[Lead Balloon]

Indeed. The grammar and spelling is always at it’s finest, two.