Have you lost your aircraft recently?
 

Just heard part of the news that police are all over an aircraft at Wollongong Airport. Landed about a week ago and has been abandoned.

Details and photos. Possible drugs and organised crime ?

Police raid plane at Albion Park

Police raid plane at Albion Park airport
 

Merlin going cheap? I'll take it!!

mmm... I cant see them wearing a single ASIC

comment of the year!

No high vis either :E

Dr Oakie, it was ferried to PH and left there. So the map showing it DCT to doffs is misleading. It has possibly been VFR to all sorts of places and not shown up on Flight Aware.

What happened after the ferry flight was completed ….who knows.

Be funny if the cops only took 35kg of interior insulation out…..:} Although you have to wonder, that is a lot of police attention for nothing.

Man, that last flight from PH to Oz flew longer than MH370 !! Good fuel range in those Merlins then. Wow, KP.

Surprised a group of Lebo drug dealers were sophisticated and organised enough to try something like this.

Wonder if it was heroin, ice or cocaine?

Hey Leafie, you must have a really good network of friends……I am not a Bookfacer so I have no friends :{

But the ferry job was IFR to PH and after that I have no idea, that was all that I can tell from FA website and the available info on the Ferry.

How do you get to Coffs in a Merlin in one leg :confused:

I am sure there is a good explanation for it all somewhere.

550 pph 4343 Lb FOB = @ F200 = 7.8 hours :: Safe 7.0 hours (420 minutes) @ 264 TAS = 1848 nms ROA ~ Nil wind. D= 1902 (-1848) = 54 nms short. WC + 10 knots GS 272 = 1904 nms ROA. Give it a ferry tank and 20 knots of tailwind, F250 Perth – Coffs (West to East) – piece of cake. Good axe is the Merlin...

Aha! The plot thickens.:ooh:

I detect an interesting story here.:hmm:

Every time I see this sort of thing I'm left wondering if the aircraft use is to support the alleged drugs or the alleged drugs are to support the aircraft addiction.

Either way both are VERY expensive to maintain.

No FKI on these aircraft then...?

Couple of news reports

Journey of plane raided near Wollongong 'revealed by social media' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Police raid US-registered plane at airport south of Wollongong, no record of flight entering Australia - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Wow, there's some quality journalism from our taxpayer-funded ABC! Top value for money on display!

PS: when can I take my Instrumental Flight rating?

So they are saying the aircraft flew more than half way across Australia
and landed without being noticed or just without clearing customs ?

I reckon it has been in Broome or somewhere or Darwin and cleared customs. I doubt that it just arrived in WOL, but it could have been full of anything and customs either missed it or were told to miss it so the cops could track it some more.

There will be more to this than the ABC can figure out from a few google searches.

Either that or it is a complete stuff up of a spectacular nature.