PPRuNe Forums - Plane down in the water off Nightcliff..

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Plane down in the water off Nightcliff..

20 minutes ago...chopper hovering over light aircraft in the drink off Nightcliff
No type or ID as yet no boats to it yet...

Just got a tip that it was a PA-31 and all got out OK, hope it was accurate.

Birdstrike? :rolleyes:

just on radio, 6 pob, all walking through mud to east point. yay.

"walking across the mud flats ..."

But where are the ferries? :}

The ferries are off with the fairies!

The Old Coconut Grove airport hasnt been used for a while :rolleyes:

White plane with Blue Tail. CSG, Frontier ?

I fly in parts where there's little in the way of mud flats, what's the technique for landing in them?

Make sure on exit you fall in the mud so the only skid marks are the ones left by the aeroplane.:E

A bit more info from the news services....

Quote:

Plane ditches in Darwin Harbour

Georgina Robinson
February 6, 2009 - 12:18PM

Six people walked away uninjured from a light plane that ditched into Darwin Harbour today.

Glenn Campbell, an Age photographer, said the aircraft made an emergency landing into shallow water about 200 metres off shore from East Point Reserve at 8.40am local time (10.10am AEDT).

"It appears the two-engine aircraft has lost power and ditched into the ocean, on tidal flats off East Point," Mr Campbell said.

"Everyone's walked away from it, the pilot walked away from the aircraft."

Northern Territory police confirmed all five passengers and the pilot were unharmed.

The men and women waded through shallow water to a picnic area where police and ambulances were waiting, a police spokeswoman said.

The plane is owned by CSG Aviation and had just taken off. It is believed it was heading to the remote community of Maningrida, about 500km east of Darwin.

"I arrived as the passengers had disembarked, just as the pilot was wading through the ocean...(it looked like) he was the last one off the plane," Mr Campbell said.

The water in which the plane landed was only about half a metre deep, he said.
CSG is a computer technology firm that flies support and maintenance into remote areas of the Northern Territory.

According to its website, CSG owns two aircraft and usually flies from Darwin International Airport.

Resident Glenn Chandler said he was having a bike ride when he spotted two council workers staring out to sea.

"Two hundred metres off shore there's just this plane sitting in the harbour with water up to its wings and half a dozen people are standing around next to it in water up to their waists, sort of scratching their heads," Mr Chandler said.

"Then they just slowly dawdled back to shore...chatting amongst themselves, it was quite a surreal thing.

"Obviously no one was hurt because there was no panic or anything."

Oh Lord !! Good to see everyone walked or swam away..... lucky was off 29er.... have a drink and chill out guys, whatever the reason shall be, it's a bloody good outcome and might see you all in the evening at the deck for a friday splash !

Smoothie....:ok:

Photos here courtesy SMH

You'd think he would have closed the hatch before he left. Don't want water getting into it! :E

Quote:

"Then they just slowly dawdled back to shore...chatting amongst themselves, it was quite a surreal thing.

With the number of Crodociles around that place, I don't believe that I'd be doing too much in the way of "dawdling"

Be a shame to survive that and then wind up on the menu. :eek:

I'm with you Capt Fathom.....

Luckily the water appears to be about 1/3 of a fathom....but what is the tide doing??

I reckon I would have closed the door too!!
Might as well try to minimise the damage.....not really 'waterproof' doors I know, but......'minimum' damage is good ......

Otherwise, ALL out OK - so, Excellent result in the circumstances.

Cheers.

There is a marker on it and it is now covered by tide
I expect the coppers will divvy up the mudcrabs at 10.26 low tide tomorrow morning :uhoh:

Looks like a popular place to "land".

So thats one there on approach years ago and one on take off today.

I suppose at least the one near East Point is only a short stroll to the Sailing CLub for a beer or two.

Good job to swim away. One more PA31 out of the system, surely this one won't be rebuilt?

C'mon people, wheres the piccies?

Aux tanks indeed. Lets stick to the facts.

"The aeroplane came over really low, it was making funny sounds"
"The engine stalled"
"The pilot fought with the controls"
"The aeroplane plunged towards the water, passengers were screaming, the pilot pulled up just in time"
"It was Canadian geese that got lost"

That should do it, now lets wait for the NT News.

Interesting the report says "He said on take-off they experienced some loss of power in one of the engines and he followed all the procedures and shut the engine down and wasn't able to return to the field so he had to put down on the beach" but appears to have nothing feathered. Just an observation, nothing more.