Plane Crash at Benambra, Vic
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Plane Crash at Benambra, Vic
Liam Houlihan and AAP
March 07, 2009 03:55pm
UPDATE 6.15pm: A LIGHT plane has crashed and injured two people while performing a "lolly drop" at a Gippsland race meeting.
The ultralight was entertaining the crowd by flying low to drop the sweets at the 133-year-old Hinnomunjie racecourse.
The pilot and passenger in the plane suffered serious injuries, with one of the pair suffering a broken leg and burns after the plane burst into flames, Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said today.
The plane crashed next to a racecourse at about 3.30pm after clipping powerlines about 425km east of Melbourne.
The crash sparked a small grass and scrub fire, which has since been extinguished, a Country Fire Authority spokeswoman said.
A police spokeswoman said the plane crashed about 600 metres from spectators.
"It was flying too low, clipped the power lines and crashed at the edge of the racecourse,'' she said.
An employee at the Benambra Hotel, Sharon Cook, said two men had been in the plane, and she believed the pilot had suffered only minor injuries.
An ambulance helicopter has flown to the scene.
The race day meeting is part of a traditional March Labour Day weekend ``race week'' in the region which draws hundreds of tourists.
The accident scene is about 425km east of Melbourne.
To those of you who know some of the 'Identities' who live up that way, it was not Benny or Mick.
Sympathy to those who were injured in the crash of this RAA category aircraft, hope you are on the mend soon. those ambo's in the helicopter are solid gold when you need them.
HD
March 07, 2009 03:55pm
UPDATE 6.15pm: A LIGHT plane has crashed and injured two people while performing a "lolly drop" at a Gippsland race meeting.
The ultralight was entertaining the crowd by flying low to drop the sweets at the 133-year-old Hinnomunjie racecourse.
The pilot and passenger in the plane suffered serious injuries, with one of the pair suffering a broken leg and burns after the plane burst into flames, Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said today.
The plane crashed next to a racecourse at about 3.30pm after clipping powerlines about 425km east of Melbourne.
The crash sparked a small grass and scrub fire, which has since been extinguished, a Country Fire Authority spokeswoman said.
A police spokeswoman said the plane crashed about 600 metres from spectators.
"It was flying too low, clipped the power lines and crashed at the edge of the racecourse,'' she said.
An employee at the Benambra Hotel, Sharon Cook, said two men had been in the plane, and she believed the pilot had suffered only minor injuries.
An ambulance helicopter has flown to the scene.
The race day meeting is part of a traditional March Labour Day weekend ``race week'' in the region which draws hundreds of tourists.
The accident scene is about 425km east of Melbourne.
To those of you who know some of the 'Identities' who live up that way, it was not Benny or Mick.
Sympathy to those who were injured in the crash of this RAA category aircraft, hope you are on the mend soon. those ambo's in the helicopter are solid gold when you need them.
HD
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Genuine question, not trying to apportion blame or insinuating anything:
As CASA are not responsible for RAA aircraft, who would give an RAA pilot low flying permission at a public gathering, does the RAA have a process for this, and would it be even allowable at all for an RAA pilot?
It will be interesting to see how this incident is handled.
As CASA are not responsible for RAA aircraft, who would give an RAA pilot low flying permission at a public gathering, does the RAA have a process for this, and would it be even allowable at all for an RAA pilot?
It will be interesting to see how this incident is handled.
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does the RAA have a process for this,
as for the ATSB, they dont take RAAus seriously and treat the investigations as such. most work is done by local police with RAAus giving advice when its asked for.
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Ultralights, you are not quite correct with your statement. Low flying is permitted under RA-Aus with permission of the land owner and is permitted under 500ft when or when not taking off and or landing. Effectively as CAO95.55 currently stands, you could conduct your entire flight not above 500ft provided that you were operating with the permission of the land owner.
This will change when part 103 goes through and will require a low level endorsement.
If you were to apply for flying over a public event, your exemption would likely come from CASA and cross the desk of RA-Aus.
Much to the delight of PlankBender who has seen this kind of behaviour in RA-Aus aircraft before, I don't believe permission would have been granted for such activities and as you say it will be very interesting to see how this is handled! One would have hoped that the recent Christmas Day fatality would have curbed this kind of behaviour.
This will change when part 103 goes through and will require a low level endorsement.
If you were to apply for flying over a public event, your exemption would likely come from CASA and cross the desk of RA-Aus.
Much to the delight of PlankBender who has seen this kind of behaviour in RA-Aus aircraft before, I don't believe permission would have been granted for such activities and as you say it will be very interesting to see how this is handled! One would have hoped that the recent Christmas Day fatality would have curbed this kind of behaviour.
Last edited by VH-XXX; 7th Mar 2009 at 08:39.
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Part 103 is already in our ops manuals, as with the new 10,000 ft ceiling for Raaus registered and CTA endorsment. yet we cannot operate under the new 103 regs yet..
sadly regs dont stop powerlines being deadly and unseen.. but its good news to hear all survived...
.even though i dont know the aircraft involved, surviving a wirestrike and crash, most likely a Jabiru?
sadly regs dont stop powerlines being deadly and unseen.. but its good news to hear all survived...
.even though i dont know the aircraft involved, surviving a wirestrike and crash, most likely a Jabiru?
Last edited by Ultralights; 8th Mar 2009 at 01:56.
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Part 103 has not been approved yet and as such the flight would be 100% legal except for the public event part. Whilst it's in the ops manual, it's not in force yet! Don't hold your breath waiting for it either.
Not a Jabiru either, it was rag-and-tube like a SkyFox.
Not a Jabiru either, it was rag-and-tube like a SkyFox.
Last edited by VH-XXX; 7th Mar 2009 at 11:14.
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Update - 'twas an RAA registered Skyfox Gazelle. It wasn't doing a lolly drop, but a pre-organised fly-by. Surprised that it would even take off up there with 2 POB being 4,000+ elevation!
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Surprised that it would even take off up there with 2 POB being 4,000+ elevation!
4,000 is more like Hotham, my bad.
