C210 missing south of Darwin
 

Nine News Darwin have the following

NT Police are assisting Australian Search and Rescue, after concerns an aircraft failed to reach its destination this evening. It's believed the Cessna 210, carrying four people, left Bullo River and was heading for a location south of Darwin, but failed to arrive... If anyone heard either a low flying light aircraft, or an aircraft in trouble between Port Keats and Anson Bay, they're asked to contact the Police Assistance Line on 131 444...

Hope it's not the owners of Bullo!

DF.

Reported that there were x2 210's flying north, but one lost radio contact over halfway. The other 210 landed and raised the alarm after the other didn't turn up.
Hope it all turns out good, and hopefully just an electrical failure or something?

The news are reporting bad weather in the area. Let's hope for the best.

Fears for four as aircraft reported missing | News | NT News | Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia | ntnews.com.au

4 POB. Perhaps one of their tourist expeditions.

Or possibly the guys from EmmKayTee returning from an Easter camping trip.

From what I understand the monsoon is in Darwin right now and it hasn't stopped raining for at least four days.

Not a good time for VFR S/E operations, especially private ops.

still no news
 

As of 1100 am AEST still nothing found, weather is better than yesterday for the search, using seven planes and a three helicopters.

ABC report
"It was last heard from about 3:00pm near Cape Ford, north of the Indigenous community of Wadeye, about 250 kilometres south-west of Darwin.

The pilot had reported to another pilot in the area that he was experiencing some rough weather.

He was advised to alter course to avoid the weather, but it is not clear whether he did."

Do such flights have a GPS breadcrumb trail?

Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian

Plane carrying 4 people missing in NT - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Mickjoebill

It builds up pretty much over land there during the day. By day, go over water, by night, over land. That was my NT rule of thumb.

My intuition tells me he has gone left of track and over water. Probably an inflight breakup which the 210 is renowned for. Id say that is where the wreckage will be located.

If its anything like the airvan off Elcho a few years back, not much will be found. Maybe a tyre or a seat cushion.

RIP

Wow bit negative there GG.

Glad I don't have a loved one on board...........

TB :rolleyes:

Latest on the ABC website

The ABC understands the four people on board a small plane that is missing in the Northern Territory are a electrical contractor and his family.

Hope they are found safe, soon.

Thunderstorms are known for breaking upper than 210's.

Can anyone confirm the MKT guys are OK?

I'm just a realist.

I know that country well and it gets pretty hairy in a turboprop with a basic weather radar.

I also know with 7 aircraft searching and an ELT onboard they would have been found if okay. Or at the very least located pending rescue.

The 210 is a great workhorse but not the frame to be mucking around in CBs and TS. If you don't get that speed under control and the gear out she'll do the death slap pretty quickly.

Do you have any stats to back up that statement GG?

I can only think of one (maybe two) inflight breakup of a C210 in Oz (Cloncurry), but I can also recall an inflight breakup of a Beech 200 yet the King Air doesn't have the same reputation as the C210.

CBs and/or loss of control will break them all up eventually!

GG
Define death slap with reference to C210s .

Hitting new heights today...

Trying to start a pissing contest are we?

When the wing spar lets go the wings slap against the sides of the fuselage as opposed to the popular belief they clap overhead. I'm sure you knew that which is why you were asking.

There was a recent inflight breakup VH-WBZ. The ATSB report is available online.

As for the C210 reputation, why do you think it has such low Va and high cruise speed? It's the first thing you are briefed on when you fly it!

......back on topic... This says a lot, looks like they're looking off the coast

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/RSCU471

We're reaching incredible new levels of assumption and speculation in this thread. I'm not sure why they're even bothering to continue the search... they should have checked here first and realised it was a waste of time.

Looks like the Dornier is headed back to Darwin, probably for some more motion lotion.

DF.

The only wing spar break up I witnessed was to a glider and the wing folded upwards.

They must have a definitive radar paint or ELT to be looking at that specific location. That doesn't look overly promising.

GG
You are correct in that the wings break at the aileron inboard end in the downward mode. It occurs beyond vne due to the large washout inC210 wings. I've never heard of one breaking up where there wasn't some sort of control loss leading to an excursion outside the envelope.:= A C210 spar is just as strong as any other type in it's class and is actually stronger than the early strutted models. The low Va is a sensible precaution to give a large margin before vne in rough conditions.

Wrong, wrong and wrong! This sort of stuff gets trotted out there and is given an airing every now and then. The fact of the matter is that the carry through structure is stronger than the struts bolted to the 206. I've been flying 210's for 30 years and have never been briefed by anyone on the wings going AWOL and I certainly havn't mentioned that to anyone whilst checking them out on the 210. Yes, a discussion on Va and the facts pertaining to that,but that's it.
Never been concerned about the wings coming off in an A36, PA32, SR22, likewise the 210.
The inflight breakup rate for the 210 as a percentage of the hours flown for the fleet isn't all that much different from the aircraft mentioned above.

VH-EFB :sad:

As a matter of interest, does that mean a lot given that it is strutless? I mean, the spar might be stronger, but without struts does that change the equation in comparison to the 206 for example?

GG - I was not having a go at you, just curious as to the basis of your broad statement.

I had forgotten about MBZ, but there were a range of other factors associated with that accident, ie weather.

I have a recollection of a survey C210 suffering a suspected inflight breakup, and there was a C201 on descent into Cloncurry some 30+ years ago.

Given the hundreds of thousands of hours flown by 210's in Oz over the last 40 years or so, three inflight breakups doesn't seem to warrant the label that you put on the aircraft.

And yes, I have a bunch of 210 hrs and fly a dreaded V-tail Bonanza!

XXX
When the strutless 210s were first introduced there were a few cases of wing failure and their strength was compared unfavourably with the earlier strutted models. Testing showed they were actually stronger but because they are so aerodynamically clean mishandling took them past vne much quicker than occurred doing the same thing to one with struts. Education was the answer.

That is it in a nutshell.

It's a high performance aeroplane that is very slippery and mishandled easily in the wrong hands. VNE excursions in strong down draughts are typical if mishandled. Hence getting the gear out and turning it into a 206 when in trouble.

You can argue all day about the strength of the 210 spar compared to other types, but other types won't overspeed as quickly as a 210. Even our lovable Bonanza. A 206 certainly won't.

As I said, there is a reason why they are probably searching off the coast. That is where the weather would have been 'better' at that time of day. Anyone with time in the NT or tropics for that matter knows this.

What upsets me about these accidents is the Pilot had his family on board, and launched into known weather in (probably) a VFR aeroplane. This is the result. Yes the commercial guys probably push it a bit with the weather this time of year, but they fly regularly and generally know their way around the area pretty well.

Latest from the ABC
 

A dozen aircraft and several police boats are continuing to search for a plane that went missing in the Northern Territory while carrying four people.
The plane left the Bullo River Station near the Eastern Kimberley region yesterday afternoon and was due to arrive a few hours later at Emkaytee airfield, south of Darwin.
On board were a 45-year-old man, his 53-year-old wife and their two children aged 12 and 15.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) says the aircraft was last heard from when the pilot sent a radio message about bad weather.
"We received reports from the overnight search that the conditions were pretty bad," spokeswoman Jo Meehan said.
"They had quite low hanging cloud and was very poor visibility which did hamper overnight searches and we understand that there were storms in the Northern Territory yesterday."
Wet and blustery conditions hampered a search overnight, but Ms Meehan says conditions were improving earlier today.
"We understand the weather has improved slightly in the area, which is allowing us conduct our morning search," she said.
"We hope that it will remain that way for this afternoon's search as well."
Search and rescue crews have been searching an-1,800 square kilometre area between Cape Ford and Point Jenny.
The search area has been widened this afternoon with up to five fixed-wing aircraft and seven helicopters involved.
"We have a paramedic helicopter on standby from Tindal air station as well should we require any sort of first aid," Ms Meehan said.
"We'll be focusing on the area where the pilot was last heard from which is in the Cape Ford region.
"We will be doing both coastal and inland searches of Anson Bay so we might be using some surface vessels as well."
Staff at Bullo River Station are also helping in the search.
Emergency services are asking anyone who heard a low-flying aircraft or an aircraft in trouble between Port Keats and Anson Bay to contact police.


:sad:

Dornier is airborne again, still inland at the moment but appears to be turning toward the coast.

DF.

Plane carrying 4 people missing in NT - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Includes interview with AMSA's Jo Meehan.

TB

Actually, right right right.

You typify the general aviation Pilot who doesn't understand the aeroplane they are flying. You probably have generic procedures and knowledge for the multiple aircraft types you generally fly, but don't have intimate knowledge of each. Yep, you might have been lucky flying the aeroplane for 30 years. One of your Pilots might not be, because you have neglected to mention what to do in the event of an airspeed excursion. Or mention what will happen rather quickly if they do. As rutan around said, 'education' is paramount.

At least guys like 'rutan around' understand it. I haven't flown a 210 for going on ten years, but It still sits firmly in my mind.

MKT
 

Pardon my ignorance - is EmKayTee a reporting point for entry into Darwin, or is it the GA airport for Darwin?

Just curious, that's all.

Emkaytee is a private general aviation aerodrome about 30 kays south.

Lot's of the weekend warrior types operate there and private VH Pilots.

It's a good strip and cheaper than parking your ship at DRW.

MKT is just a small airfield just south of Darwin about 30nm. Some private and RAA stuff plus a maintenance facility there.

Hope this mob get found ok, not looking great though. Wx has been pretty poor this past week up here.

Oh shoot - I know the owner of that aircraft! :sad:

DF.

Is it VH-EFB? Flew my family in this to El Questro a couple of years ago (we named her Betsy). Hope it is all ok...

Found wreckage off Cape Ford

No signs of survivors

The search aircraft seemed to be doing circles around there.

Hope some good news is forthcoming.

They were a lot closer to the coast this time than they were before, & even inland somewhat. Aircraft appears to be tracking back towards YPDN now. :(

DF.

Well I thought it was, but it just did a big loop & came back over the area it was searching before.