View Full Version : Another heli lost - Snowy mountains
Squawk7700
4th Apr 2022, 21:16
Another helicopter has been lost in the Snowy Mountains yesterday. I was tracking the Rescue aircraft last night hoping for the best. Both the Rescu660 Challenger and AW139 from Wollongong were searching, however it looks like ground crews found it eventually before midnight. I won't say what type it was, however it was not a Robinson.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-05/two-dead-in-snowy-mountains-helicopter-crash/100965862
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1048x747/rescue1_364c0ed9b9eecfe202b4ce0470a203ad307a33b7.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1042x746/rescue2_6be47a2a83a55f09de79577b3b47a311d6168009.jpg
Jetranger PRW according to F'book.
Squawk7700
5th Apr 2022, 04:37
Jetranger PRW according to F'book.
News is saying that they were part of a group of helicopters.
There’s a lot more to this story that will soon come out in the wash.
PoppaJo
5th Apr 2022, 04:56
What time of day was this? One media reported it as midnight however I think they are getting confused with rescue aircraft.
Squawk7700
5th Apr 2022, 05:32
The above Rescue flight was mostly in daylight.
Ground crews located it just before midnight.
Squawk7700
5th Apr 2022, 08:04
https://www.applianceretailer.com.au/vale-margaret-fulton/vale-peter-woodland-md-woodland-home-products-and-margaret-fulton-c-2004-launching-the-500000th-st-george-oven/#.Ykv3gRZ_UWM
Capt Fathom
5th Apr 2022, 10:25
Could you explain your link thanks Squawk.
Vale Peter Woodland, MD Woodland Home Products and Margaret Fulton c 2004 launching the 500,000th St George Oven
Could you explain your link thanks SquawkPeter Woodland was the aircrafts owner, presumably he was an occupant.
Colonel_Klink
6th Apr 2022, 03:08
News is saying that they were part of a group of helicopters.
There’s a lot more to this story that will soon come out in the wash.
A particularly unhelpful comment - akin to ‘I know something you don’t know”…
Squawk7700
6th Apr 2022, 04:31
A particularly unhelpful comment - akin to ‘I know something you don’t know”…
Maybe you could pm me.
VH-MLE
6th Apr 2022, 06:02
Squawk, why even make the cryptic, "secret squirrel" posts you have on this accident?? If it's something that "will come out in the wash" why even bother posting - except if it's for reasons alluded to by Colonel Klink! :=
Squawk7700
6th Apr 2022, 07:47
It did come out in the news, I forgot to link it sorry.
They first got in trouble the day before due weather, instigated an uncertainty phase, waited it out for 24 hours and then set off again and came to grief.
Squawk7700
6th Apr 2022, 11:31
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/barbeques-galore-cofounder-killed-in-snowy-mountains-helicopter-crash/news-story/2aec67076857f15c6d20bdc7869ef876
Mark 9876
8th Apr 2022, 23:59
Hi - I am a friend of those who have passed in this tragedy. We are trying to understand what happened to our friends.
A suggestion has been made on this thread that VH-PRU overnighted on Sunday somewhere due to bad weather and the tragedy occurred on Monday.
Based on my understanding of the timeline I have real doubts about this claim - but I am not from the aviation field and would welcome the input of others.
(All references to flight paths are verifiable via tail numbers included)
SUNDAY
The last flight track for Peter’s helicopter (VH-PRW) ends around 11am on Sunday near Wee Jasper on all but one flight tracker website. Flightaware however. shows it between Jindabyne and Khancoban at 3.16 to 3.26 pm (but says “location only”).
That same day, SUNDAY, a search and rescue plane (RSCU660) (VH-XND) took off from Melbourne at 2.42 pm. It then flew straight to a very narrow search site at Kiandra. It did about 10 circuits before departing. The search site closely matches where Peter’s helicopter was ultimately found by Police and Rescue people around 11:50pm on MONDAY Night (Source - NSW Police announcements)
A rescue helicopter out of Wollongong RSCU230 (VH-TJJ) also looked for VH-PRW on Sunday. At 2.45pm it headed for Wee Jasper - the last radar plotted position of VH-PRU. It arrived there at around 3.45.
MONDAY
RSCU660 returned to the same site at Kiandra on Monday night around 7.30pm. RSCU 230 joined RSCU 660 in the search at Kiandra - operating slightly to the north east.
I suppose there may have been more rescue aircraft operating on Monday during the day - but I am unaware of it at this time. My guess is that alpine visibility was poor during the day. Even for ground personnel.
The wreckage was found by ground crew at Kiandra at 11.50 MONDAY night
So.
TWO rescue aircraft went looking for VH-PRU around 2.45pm on SUNDAY. One of those aircraft went directly to the area of the crash sight. The police stated it was unaware of any distress call from VH—PRU
Is this fact pattern more likely to be consistent with an ELT being triggered by a tragic impact on Sunday, or an overnight on Sunday and an accident sometime on Monday?
Do they normally send 2 aircraft out like that on Sunday without an ELT ?