Light aircraft down at Moree.
 

Just heard fatal crash at Moree.

PLANE ACCIDENT CLAIMS FOUR LIVES

March 30, 2011

Four people are dead and two others are seriously injured following a light-plane crash at Moree.
A man, woman and two others were found dead inside the Cessna wreckage after is crashed in a paddock on Blueberry Road near the Moree airport shortly after 8pm tonight.
The Cessna had flown from Brisbane with six people onbaord.
A teenage girl and a man were freed from the light-plane and taken to Moree Hospital with serious injuries.
Police have established a crime scene and forensic specialists are on their way from Inverell.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau have been notified and will begin investigations into the cause of the crash in the morning.

Oh crap that's bad news. I know a few 210s heading south for this weekend.

Any more details on the aircraft?

No sorry mate.
My thoughts go out to all family members. I'm so sorry to hear this.

Cherokee VH-LKI. Very little info at this stage.

It hasn't been a good run of late has it?

RIP

The media is saying "Cessna" but I believe it was a Piper Saratoga.
They think every light aircraft is a "Cessna"

PA-32R-301T Saratoga Turbo 1983 model.

http://images.smh.com.au/2011/03/30/...rash-420x0.jpg

FOUR people died and two others were seriously injured when a light plane crashed near a caravan park while attempting to land in northern NSW last night.

A man, woman and two other adults were found dead inside the wreckage of a six-seat, single-engine Cessna near Moree Airport shortly after 8pm.

The Cessna, which had flown from Brisbane, crashed in a paddock on Blueberry Road, Moree, two kilometres from the airport, and about 100 metres from Gwydir Caravan Park. Witnesses told police it had clipped a tree before crashing upside-down.

Police remain at the scene of a light-plane crash which left four people dead at Moree last night.

Shortly after 8pm, emergency services were called to a paddock on Blueberry Road near Moree Airport following reports the single engine plane with six people on board had crashed.

The Cessna crashed on approach to Moree Airport following a flight from Brewarrina. Early information suggesting the plane had flown from Brisbane was incorrect.

Local police, paramedics and officers from the NSW Fire Brigades and Rural Fire Service attended the crash site.

Two men and a woman, aged their 60s, and a woman, aged in her 20s, were found dead inside the wreckage.

A man, aged in his 40s and a 12-year-old girl, were taken to Moree Hospital with a range of critical injuries.

and

It was a Saratoga for a start......:ugh:

Bugger..... what a shame. If he / she departed Brewarrina yesterday then a Saratoga would be the likely type- it was the only other type there yesterday afternoon apart from me.

My condolances to their family and friends. Let's hope the two in hospital make a speedy recovery.

When I informed a Yahoo *Journalist* that the plane was in fact a Piper Saratogo, he asked me for the rego to verify.

I told him, in light of the fact that the deceased pilot's name had not been made public, I wasn't going to give the rego to him, as the owner may NOT have been the pilot flying at the time.

RIP

I hope the two injured make a speedy recovery

tinhorse
 

I watched this aircraft last night -entering downwind for RW19 Moree. The circuit height appeared right, and the turn onto base right distance out and standard. The turn onto final approach however appeared to be too low. The aircraft impacted the ground slightly over 500mtrs from RW19 threshold. From observation of the wreckage it would seem that little forward motion was involved as there is no discernible scattering. The night was clear but very dark. The remains of the aircraft are pretty much aligned with the centreline of RW19.The landing lights were on for all of the approach that I could see, and I have always found that except for short final, they were a hinderence and a distraction.

Hi Tinhorse,

sorry you had to witness the event. In my time in OZ aviation ( 37 yrs ), Ive seen a few, and as you well know its not a pleasant thing.

We can all guess, from your words, what probably happened.

Im sure you have already spoken to the Investigators,and thankfully, you can give them a very accurate account of the accident.

But please, please, please, dont say anything to those mindless bottom feeders that are journo's.
And Im sure you wont .
They surf this forum looking for bits n pieces to distort.
The well known family from Moree, who were involved, have enough to worry about, than have to read or listen to some spin doctor dribble that gets aired..

cheers mate, and thank you for your post.

Altitude and ROD must be closely monitored on final. I always had my students turn final not below 600' at night. I too feel for the poor souls. nasty accident.

My heart goes out to all involved in this tragic accident that i know is being felt across the entire Moree community. I knew the pilot quite well, i am lucky to have worked at his business back in 2003 before i left for uni. He was a very fair man who gave me a go when i couldn't find work, taught me so much and was a well respected figure in the community. He loved to fly whenever he had the opportunity. His aircraft was always well equipped and maintained. I'm shocked by this news.

He can fly as often as he likes now.

The rest of you fly safe, and tell your families you love them.

CV wise words.

Yes seems (if we can beleive anything from the media) that this involved 3 generations of 1 family.

Shocking stuff.

sad on all fronts.. enough said.

Moree is 700 ft amsl. Circuit height would be 1700 ft QNH. No visual approach slope guidance. Black night - black hole approach - Unless the pilot is very experienced and IFR rated, if going into this type of country airport it is all too easy to forget in the stress of a night approach, the actual height above terrain on base and final. For example 1000 ft QNH is only 300 ft above runway level.
That is why PAPI/VASIS is so vital at night as it is difficult to accurately judge the correct (safest) angle of approach.

Not saying this happened here in Moree but a warning to any pilot that operates in the outback on dark moonless nights. Especially without glide slope guidance.

When there is tragedy far from home most us want to learn from the incident, when it is close to home grieving and shock often turns us against the messenger.

There are both good and bad journalists and eyewitnesses.

A good journalist uses a reliable eyewitness to piece together an account of an incident so the rest of us can be informed.


Those who post a report of an incident on a forum, face book or twitter are undertaking the role of a journalist or at least an expert witness account.

So we are faced with either, doing nothing, posting hopefully accurate information ourselves or supporting good journalists in a hope they will piece together the skeleton facts of an incident.

No question that in some air accidents the most likely cause isn't always the actual cause, but getting reliable facts into the public domain helps prevent damaging misreporting.


Mickjoebill

No such thing. In 10 years I've never read an accurate aviation piece.

If you're not a pilot, get off the forum.

Landed over the wreckage today, then drove past going into town. So close to the field. I used to see this plane and it's owner regularly, always gave me a wave.