Mid Air at Latrobe Valley. 1 Dead
 

From ABC


Police say the pilot of an ultralight plane is dead after his aircraft collided with a light plane in mid-air at Traralgon, in Victoria's east.
Early reports indicate the ultralight overshot the runway, crashed to the ground and burst into flames, while the light plane landed safely.

RIP.

My sincere condolences to the family of the pilot. I hope its not who I think it is.

And the pilot of the other aircraft - I hope you are all right, too.

Condolences to all concerned.

Was there on-site today for the aftermath. A very unhappy end to a nice half hour of circuits on an otherwise great day.

What type of aircraft were involved XXX.

My understanding is that the occupant of the Cessna 172 was a solo student pilot which somehow collided with the top of the ultralight on final.

Condolences to the family and friends.

Is Latrobe a CTAF (R) ? Condolences to the family. Suggest student is in need of help as well.

Aircraft was an Avid 912 ultralight. Cessa 172 EUI from Latrobe Valley Aero Club. Haven't checked map lately but as far as I know it isn't. Both aircraft were talking on radio anyway.

i came to within 50 ft of the same fate at Hoxton park just 2 weeks ago! though this time it was a Archer from YSBK, he was on the right frequency, i heard his calls, he didnt hear mine..turned final right in front of me...over the M7.
How can the number of such incidences be reduced before another fellow pilot or more lose their lives? if these events are happening in CTAFr with radio on the correct frequency, making all the right calls, is it a case of simply not looking out the window and visually confirming traffic location as is called on the radio? will the introduction of Unicom at busy CTAFr help? or even just the addition of AFRU? or is it the result of the apparent lack of skills being taught these days?
or it could be a tragic co-incidence.
My sincerest condolences to all involved.. a sad day.

"Both aircraft were talking on radio anyway"

"i heard his calls, he didnt hear mine..turned final right in front of me..."

.... then how do both aircraft arrive in the same place at the same time?

Even if only one is aware of other, why would that aircraft not stay well away from a possible area of conflict until it had a visual ID on the other?

Dr :8

And possibly not looking. Very busy circuit and CTAF at YCDR/YCAB/YRED today and a newbie in for a ride, i the end I just turned the volume down as it was more distraction than usefull. Looking out proved far more effective.

I do not think you will ever achieve 100% safety unless nobody flies at all.

J

Thats exactly what i would like to know. up until the point of near collision, all radio calls appeared normal.
the matter has been resolved with ATSB and the other pilot involved, apon talking to the other pilot, (instructor in this case) he said he didnt see me, and believed my calls were from the aircraft vacating the runway (the aircraft i was following, i was flying a Jabiru, the aircraft infront was a Skipper) , so he made a short base and final. it wasnt untill i made a few remarks on the radio that he saw the error by then i had already pushed full power and was climbing away for another circuit. he was a little worried of some physical repercussions, so he taxied back to 34 and departed immediately.
in my case it was a simple miss communication, and error in judgment, i just hope the same wasn't the case today resulting in a fatality.

Jabawocky, whilst I know and understand what it's like to operate in a congested zone where the radio chatter can become chaotic, I would be alarmed to think I might be making radio broadcasts to pilots who willfully turn down the volume and don't hear them. Whilst carriage of VHF radio may not be mandatory at a CTAF, the regs still state that - if carried - you are expected to use it. At least that was the case last time I had a look in the books.

As frustrating as the chatter can sometimes be, it's up to pilots to learn the art of filtering through it all to make sense of what is being said.

Not passing judgement (as I wasn't there), but would not want to encourage the idea that it's ok to switch off when you get sick of listening to the frequency.

Its often how you fly the circuit.
 

I had an incident at YBRS a month ago. I called entering crosswind and turning downwind. Another pilot called entering down wind after my call. I assume he s behind me in the circuit. I call turning base, he calls turning base after my call. As I turn on to final he has turned inside me cutting short his downwind leg, turns onto final in front of me. I have to go around to miss him.

We both made calls but he flew a tighter circuit than I did creating a conflict.

Radio calls in the circuit are yesterdays news - by the time you have finnished your call things have changed.

I agree with Jabawocky on this one - get your eyes out side.

Bunglerat at no time did I mention turning it off, nor did I, rather with a newbie on board and it probably confusing the heck out of him, I turned it down (and still listend, can tell between the calls who is where) but focussed more attention outside the windows than in the headset. Please do not be alarmed. Hope that clears that up for you.

Alerted SEE and avoid is the phrase with emphasis on SEE. Reason being often you get someone making calls that are not as precise as you like around my part of the world.
J:ok:

The whole Redcliffe/Caloundra/Caboulture ctaf is going to end in tragedy someday I'm afraid, the amount of radio calls on a weekend is unbelievable, but what can be done? It also doesn't help when someone cracks it because they got cut off the circuit and they argue over the radio for 5 minutes, very bad airman ship..............:ugh:

At what point will CASA make GA Tcas compulsory??

i dont think GA TCAS is the solution, the costs alone would be the final nail in the GA coffin if that was to happen..

I think some posters are being a bit melodramatic about the supposed problems of air traffic volume in Australia.

Think we got it tuff here in Australia - I understand more aircraft fly into one airshow in the U.S. then we have aircraft.

Oshkosh is mainly see and avoid.

Look and listen
 

LOOK and LISTEN is what is needed. Too many pilots have verbal diahoeria. Some fly as they drive-agressively. Work out where your blind spots are.