I had many hours in GC's Nanchangs many years ago. NNA, NNB etc, they are a lovely aircraft to fly (if you can get it to the threshhold).

GC was a true gentleman and larger than life character. He was passionate about his Nanchangs. Terrible news. My sincere condolences to family and friends. This is a sad loss to the aviation world.
RIP GC.

F
:(

I too saw an eye witness report that the aircraft did not recover from a "vertical pull up". Eye witness reports are one of the most sort after pieces of info for the ATSB to work with. Its up to them to sort out the good from the bad. I get a little tired of people not being allowed to put across their view when we have an accident. Sure its terrible when we loose a fellow aviator even worse when we know them, but if you find the topic too sensitive you probably best not looking at the thread. The more we discuss an accident the better chance we have of understanding what went wrong and why. And maybe not suffer the same fate.

Anyone have info on the service?

Date
Time
Location?


R

low level aerobatics
 

Sad but true, XXX and the poster on the RAA site are right, pilot and passenger friends of mine had to witness the terrible accident. Low level runway pass, and seemingly he was only missing ten feet or so trying to come back around through what looked like a hammer head turn for another fly-by.

Very sad, condolences to the family.

I will not forget the sight on take-off of the charred wreck just outside the airport boundary. It will be a reminder to always try and fly within my limits.

I fly into Moruya fairly often and have friends and family there. This is what witnesses said: ( I have not attatched the photos as I do not believe it is appropriate)

RIP

I have been told that the investigation for this accident has been handed over to the local police:eek:.
A friend of mine also recently had an accident in which the aircraft was extensively damaged but there were no injuries, he said the ATSB were not interested.
Is this normal? Are the ATSB only interested in investigating RPT operations?

Local Police will only investigate the accident insofar as reporting the matter to the Coroner, whether the ATSB are involved or not. This is normal in any fatal accident. I wouldn't read anything further into it than that.

JT

Ok, no worries.
Cheers

The ATSB don't investigate every accident. They only investigate this sort of accident if there is some safety benefit to the wider aviation industry. By handing it over to the local police I would surmise that the eye witness accounts indicate that there is no safety benefit to be gained from tying up resources. There was also a Nanchang accident off the coast of Narabeen a couple of years ago and that wasn't investigated either. It should probably be investigated by the Warbird Association.