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Airvan crash on Flinders Island
Hopefully all walk away ok. Weather was pretty bad earlier in the arvo..
A light plane has gone down near Strzelecki National Park on Flinders Island with seven people on board.Northern District Commander Richard Cowling says all those on board are believed to be alive, but police are still working to locate the plane. A large contingent of emergency service personnel are on stand-by once the location of the crash site has been determined. Police are believed to have been in radio contact with those on board. It is understood the small charter plane with seven people on board took off from Lady Barron in fog and rain and hit a low hill. Gail Grace, whose husband is the Whitemark Aerodrome manager, said State Emergency Service personnel were trying to locate the plane somewhere on the south of the island. "At the moment we don't know whether it has hit Mount Strezelecki or Vinegar Hill,'' she said. "They're still trying to find it but nobody's seen it.'' Locals said weather condition were "absolutely atrocious'' with cloud down to 100 metres and drizzling rain. Flinders Island held its annual show today with many flights from the Tasmanian mainland and Cape Barren Island landing at Whitemark and Lady Barron. The plane was believed to belong to Flinders Island Aviation Services, which operates two GA8 Airvans and a Cessna 206 from Lady Barron. It is believed the seven passengers were on board one of the GA8 Airvans, which can be converted from freight carrying to allow for seven passengers. A spokeswoman at Flinders Island Aviation Services was unable to comment on the crash as she had no details. |
ch 7 newsbreak reported that 7 walked away
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As they say, it's the right aircraft to have a prang in. All those hemorrhoids do pay off in the end :{
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Weather can change quickly there. I recall seeing Cape Barron and Flinders from Bridport, enroute to Lady Barron in a BN2. A few moments later the islands vanished from view. Long time ago but I think an easterly weather pattern blew in and covered the place. Chapel Island wasn't a great alternate due to the snake population.
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Doesn't really sound like VFR !
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Six telstra employees plus pilot, found just after midnight, and the last winched out about 3.30am. All ok apart from cuts and bruises. What I dont understand is why a company like telstra would charter VFR pilots and aircraft operating to VFR strips when there are IFR Rpt services available
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Short of engine or mechanical failure there's no excuse for this outcome considering what the what the weather was like / has been like the last few days.
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Totally agree XXX. This is no accident, its an avoidable crash
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Surprised that Telstra allowing their staff to travel in a single engine aircraft. Many years ago, following numerous single engine accidents landing and taking off on Three Hummocks Island (Western end of Bass Strait), they built a bigger strip nearer to their tower and flew in and out in twin engine aircraft only.
Was it work related flight, or was it a staff organised flight, seeing that the complement were three males, three females. (Source ABC radio) |
I find myself wondering, in this age with EPIRBs that'll locate you to within 10cm, why did it take so long to find them? Does the cloud and bad weather affect their use a lot?
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EPIRBs that'll locate you to within 10cm No GPS - ~5 nm and up to 3 hrs to get that depending on what the satellites are doing GPS 400 ft in a few minutes. The beacon may have a better position from it's gps but the code string limits what it can send. Some people want to save the extra $150 a GPS beacon costs. |
Hmm, thanks Deaf, always good to gain a better understanding of such things! Guess I read the package labelling and take it a little to heart sometimes! :}
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ML centre 123.80 had a number of jets monitoring 121.50 around 6pm last night.
One wonders why Telstra used a VFR single, too tight to pay for an IFR twin or book seats on Airlines of Tas? |
One wonders why Telstra used a VFR single, too tight to pay for an IFR twin or book seats on Airlines of Tas? |
Probably what saved them would have been the stringent Testra OH&S rules including safety vest, goggles, hard hat and gloves etc.
Why then did we put them a single-engine VFR aircraft in crappy weather for an over-water flight? |
That company seem to have a history of "broken" aircraft....
Saw some footage tonight, bloody rough terrain where it came down. Seems the pilot decided to go walk about and was picked up away from the scene. The passengers were picked up from the crash site some time later. Very lucky to walk away. One of Airlines of Tas's Titans was sent out sometime after midnight to assist also. The passengers flew back into Launceston this arvo ironically on another Airvan....:uhoh: |
One wonders why Telstra used a VFR single, too tight to pay for an IFR twin or book seats on Airlines of Tas? |
Because you can't get an IFR twin into the strips that they need to operate into for the work that they are doing. |
Check in ERSA you will find YFLI is more than capable of taking large aircraft ie Fokker 50, Dash8, F-27 etc.
The airstrip at Lady Baron is also good enough to take C402/PA-31 etc. |
Why no kudos to the pilot for sucessfully saving so many lives? Why is there "no excuse" on behalf the pilot. From what I've read, the conditions thet can chage quite dramatically!
I'm assuming it was engine failure- are there known issues with the "scare-van"? |
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