Lightie lands at YSSY
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Lightie lands at YSSY
A light plane lost above heavy cloud over Sydney today had to be radar guided onto one of Sydney airport's major runways, Airservices Australia says.
The unusual sight of seeing a tiny plane landing among giant Boeings had caused a number of onlookers to call authorities, an Airservices spokesman said.
The pilot of the plane, leaving an as yet unidentified departure point west of the Great Dividing Range, radioed air traffic control about 1310 AEDT saying he was lost.
"(The plane) was scheduled to go to Hoxton Park in Sydney and it got trapped above cloud - there's very thick cloud above Sydney and surrounding areas at the moment," the spokesman said.
"He was on a visual navigation flight, that is when the pilot can only navigate visually.
"So he had to be radar vectored by traffic controllers off the coast. They found a hole in the cloud for him.
"He then conducted an unscheduled landing at Sydney airport.
"I think that's raised some concerns about this light plane landing at Sydney airport.
"People are wondering what it's doing there."
The spokesman said the plane's pilot was safe and well and the plane had about 20 minutes' fuel left when it landed.
- AAP
The unusual sight of seeing a tiny plane landing among giant Boeings had caused a number of onlookers to call authorities, an Airservices spokesman said.
The pilot of the plane, leaving an as yet unidentified departure point west of the Great Dividing Range, radioed air traffic control about 1310 AEDT saying he was lost.
"(The plane) was scheduled to go to Hoxton Park in Sydney and it got trapped above cloud - there's very thick cloud above Sydney and surrounding areas at the moment," the spokesman said.
"He was on a visual navigation flight, that is when the pilot can only navigate visually.
"So he had to be radar vectored by traffic controllers off the coast. They found a hole in the cloud for him.
"He then conducted an unscheduled landing at Sydney airport.
"I think that's raised some concerns about this light plane landing at Sydney airport.
"People are wondering what it's doing there."
The spokesman said the plane's pilot was safe and well and the plane had about 20 minutes' fuel left when it landed.
- AAP
Gotta love the definition of visual navigation flight though...........
Also wish I had one of those radars that can find holes in cloud!
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20 mins of fuel, caught abouve 8/8 cloud. while VFR, someone will be in big trouble!
why would you call authorities seeing a lighty on approach to YSSY? i remember in the good ole days it was a regular occurance.
why would you call authorities seeing a lighty on approach to YSSY? i remember in the good ole days it was a regular occurance.
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Someone declares an emergency once every 10 days for being caught in or above cloud.
They are only the reported ones too...
TBT
They are only the reported ones too...
TBT
OK so he / she made a miscalculation.
Fortunately he / she had the sense to swallow their pride, declare the state of urgency and seek assistance.
It ended well and should give encouragement to others who find themselves in a similiar position to call for assistance. All too often it ends in sorrow.
Lets hope CASA use the positives.
The cynical side of me thinks "positives" would be a new experience for CASA!
Fortunately he / she had the sense to swallow their pride, declare the state of urgency and seek assistance.
It ended well and should give encouragement to others who find themselves in a similiar position to call for assistance. All too often it ends in sorrow.
Lets hope CASA use the positives.
The cynical side of me thinks "positives" would be a new experience for CASA!
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"I think that's raised some concerns about this light plane landing at Sydney airport.
"People are wondering what it's doing there."
Was it the spotters who called in this despicable crime??
Tools.
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Was it the spotters who called in this despicable crime??
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A number of years ago I was sitting on Qanats Dr waiting to watch the Concorde take off. It was being held for quite awhile. Then to the amusement or horror depending on point of view, a Cherokee landed on the crossing runway. Concorde was rolling shortly afterwards.
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Fuel Reserves
Pardon me for being argumentative but all the comments on only 20 minutes fuel remaining, thats plenty, after the emrgency diversion. Thats what the 45 minutes plus whatever else you plan for is actually for.
Yes one should not proceed over 8/8ths if VFR if there is no certain break on the other side, but when fog cathes out a QF A330 or a VFR has to go off sure to get buck under, that is a **** happens occasion. Should we do it as a matter of normal ops...NO, but its why we have safety margins so that when it gets ugly we have a bit up our sleeve, IFR or VFR.
Now if you were over water and no hole, how many would be confident to get the speeds right and the wings level and trimmed right to do a "coached" decent in IMC.
To all VFR's I would say keep the two hours of Instrument training brushed up, not so you can do illegal ops, but should you need to be monitored and coached back into VMC, you make it into VMC without becomeing a statistic.
Good job done by all I would say. And who ever said ATC in Sydney were not helpful......as for the CASA investigation, well we'll see!
At least if he or she writes a story for the Crash Comic they might win a prize for it and pay off some of the fine!!!!
Cheers
J
Yes one should not proceed over 8/8ths if VFR if there is no certain break on the other side, but when fog cathes out a QF A330 or a VFR has to go off sure to get buck under, that is a **** happens occasion. Should we do it as a matter of normal ops...NO, but its why we have safety margins so that when it gets ugly we have a bit up our sleeve, IFR or VFR.
Now if you were over water and no hole, how many would be confident to get the speeds right and the wings level and trimmed right to do a "coached" decent in IMC.
To all VFR's I would say keep the two hours of Instrument training brushed up, not so you can do illegal ops, but should you need to be monitored and coached back into VMC, you make it into VMC without becomeing a statistic.
Good job done by all I would say. And who ever said ATC in Sydney were not helpful......as for the CASA investigation, well we'll see!
At least if he or she writes a story for the Crash Comic they might win a prize for it and pay off some of the fine!!!!
Cheers
J
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He hadn't just flown in from Lord Howe Island, had he?
VFR over 8/8ths used to be allowed - from memory you had to be in sight of land or water again within 30 minutes.
VFR over 8/8ths used to be allowed - from memory you had to be in sight of land or water again within 30 minutes.
The unusual sight of seeing a tiny plane landing among giant Boeings had caused a number of onlookers to call authorities, an Airservices spokesman said.
Today's St.George and Sutherland Shire Leader (surely Australia's worst excuse for a newspaper) contained some more of the same.
Apparently "shire" residents frantically called emergency hotlines last Wed night as the Qantas B744 made an early right turn off 16R towards Telstra Stadium for the soccer fly-over. They were adamant the aircraft was headed for the Lucas Heights reactor.
The media has a lot to answer for!
TL
