Aircraft down on Lake Frome
 

An aircraft has made a forced landing on Lake Frome in South Australia's Far North. VH-HVG - MAULE MT-7-260 Super Rocket. 2 POB, all okay apparently. Rescue efforts are under way from Arkaroola Village.

DF.

It had water in it a month ago. Maybe landing was near by?

Doug to the rescue!

Well they definitely said it was on the lake in the relayed transmissions from a Qantas aircraft.

Doug is currently holding station over the top in the 207. A R44 is on the way from YRYK (Rawnsley Park Station) to the location.

DF.

Haha Dougie has probably already analysed the situation, accurately worked out the cause and submitted his findings on email by now. Love his work!

It's a shame that the Maule wasn't closer to Beverley Camp (YBEE) as there's a rather impressive bitumen strip there. (Although they're not particularly welcoming of itinerant aircraft there..)

(I wonder if they ran out of fuel because they weren't running lean of peak:}). Seriously,I hope all are OK and the aircraft is undamaged and recoverable. Balcanoona is another great strip. Glad to hear Doug and the mighty 207 are on the job again. I guess we will hear the details of what happened soon enough.

An early morning flight from Broken Hill to Arkaroola via Balcanoona over Frome is one of the worlds best scenic flights.

Clearly the same Dougie :ok:

And you are right. :p

Many moons ago in my previous life as an FSO, I was stationed at Leigh Creek in around '86 or 87 and a similar accident occurred. Got a mayday for engine failure of a single, but cant recall the callsign. Landed on Lake Frome and sat there for 6 months (the aircraft that is, not the pilot).
The National Safety Council (remember them?) flew their dirty big Dornier chopper up and lifted the aircraft off the salt bed onto the shore of the lake. They fitted a new prop and flew it out.:sad:

Robbovic,
You've got me scratching my head there.
".. dirty big Dornier chopper .."
Can you help me with that one, please?

Well it was a big chopper and my recollection is that it was described to me as a Dornier (spelling?). As well, six or seven NSC freeloaders all slept on my living room floor and ate me out of house and home.
Thinking about it the sequence of events was that they lifted the plane off the lake when they found it. They were called in to conduct the search after he went down. It then sat on the lake shore until it was flown out. NSC turned up at LEC with the chopper and a fixed wing twin.

Bell 412 was about the biggest rotary wing aircraft operated by the NSC.

(Dornier did actually manufacture helicopters for a while, but they weren't powerful enough to lift much more than the skin off an orange.)

Robbovic, the Dornier would have been the fixed wing twin. The chopper was most likely a Bell 412.
I can remember a couple of times when they were in the area for searches/rescues before I started work at the airport. I can also remember one of the 228's turning up for refuelling after I started work out there & after the NSCA had gone belly up. I remember thinking to myself I hope I'm going to get paid for the fuel because I knew their carnet cards were on the blacklist. The pilot must have read my mind because he said it's okay I have cash!

DF.

Aha...yes that's it. :ok: Thanks for the correction. All I know is they were kitted up to the eyeballs and we were wondering at the time "where do they get the money for that?" Answer was they didn't apparently.

If they are taken to Rawnsley Park they will be well looked after. A great place to have a break whether flying in or travelling by road.

Not sure whether they got taken there or to Arkaroola. I would imagine it was the latter.

DF.

I hear the pilot and pax are ok, any reports on the state of the aircraft?

The twin Huey could lift about 1.8 tonnes including fuel and crew. I was winched out of the Wonangatta in the early 90s by the NSC after injuring a leg on the fire line.

Didn't like it much!

Especially when he whoppa whoppa'd from above the pick up point high on the mountainside to a point over the valley then several thousand feet below while I was still hanging in a sling that reminds me of the garden swing in my childhood.

Kaz

Ha! It didn't kill you Kaz, so it evidently made you stronger!