DHC Beaver down in Hawkesbury
 

ABC reporting six POB...

This sounds bad
 

A light plane has crashed on the Hawkesbury River in Sydney’s north with up to six people on board.

The seaplane is believed to have been carrying about six people when it crashed about 3.20pm.

The crash site is located at Cowan Creek just off the Hawkesbury River— about 2 kilometres north of Cottage Point— and is now covered with oil slick and debris.



Plane crash Hawkesbury River: Six people on board

Sydney Seaplanes 6-seater plane crashed with passengers in the Hawkesbury
 

Sad news on this New Year's Eve:

Plane crash Hawkesbury River: Six people on board

This has already been posted in the GA section!

...it's not GA though. They're a commercial operator.

Doesn’t look good.
A horrible end to what’s been a terrible year for GA.

Bugger. Any info on the rego or type?

PG

Deep water too. The police divers had twin tanks on.

Any idea if it was one of the Caravans or a Beaver?

Door
 

Watching the live stream and a door liner? floated to the surface & was retrieved.
It had the trapezoid shaped window that looked very similar to the middle door on the Beaver.

It went straight to the bottom. Something a heavy Beaver donk would do.

"At this stage police and search and rescue teams have been unable to locate the plane or any passenger”
That sounds very concerning for the people on board. If must have been a rather catastrophic accident if nobody managed to get out - let’s hope that’s not the case.

One of the media sites showed Beaver VH-NOO and claimed that was the aircraft involved.

too too sad shades possibly of another Beaver fatal 5 DEC 1988 on the Monduran Dam inland from Bundy. That day I was ferrying Beaver VH-IDQ from Cairns to Hobart, and had a call late that day from the searchmaster. Did my track go anywhere near Lake Monduran? No sir! (VH-NOO used to be Gary Mitchell's who had Seaplane Safaris out of Rose Bay. Clocked up quite a few memorable hours in that one - cautiously in and out of Cottage Point too.)

FROM ATSB REPORT INTO LOSS OF VH-BSL
The aircraft reported departing Bundaberg for Monduran Dam on a no SAR flight at 1135 hrs EST with three persons on board and an endurance of 270 minutes. The purpose of the flight was to complete the endorsement of the pilot under check and to assess the suitability of an area of water on the coast to where the passenger, who was the regular pilot of the aircraft, was to fly the aircraft the following day. The pilot in command had flown 27 hours in the previous three months, of which 9 were on type. The pilot under check had flown only one hour in the last three months. This flight had been in VH-BSL. At approximately 1200 hrs, the aircraft was observed in the Lake Monduran area. It flew two left hand circuits, landing into wind towards the dam wall each time. After the second takeoff, it turned left and was seen heading north from the lake. Nothing further was heard or seen of the aircraft. Following an extensive search, the wreckage was located six days later lying inverted in 15 metres of water approximately 2 km WNW of the dam wall in the area of the junction of the main east-west channel and a north-south channel of the lake. Both floats had separated from the aircraft and the right float was severely torn for about half its length. There was substantial water impact damage to the windshield frame/cockpit roof area and to the upper leading edge surfaces of both wings. No fault was found with the aircraft or its systems which might have contributed to the accident. It could not be determined who was manipulating the controls of the aircraft at the time of the accident. Evidence was obtained that it was the habit of the check pilot to have pilots undergoing endorsement or check to fly two circuits landing into wind and then to carry out crosswind landings. The check pilot and the pilot under check had previously operated at the dam and alighted on to both the east/west and the north/south channels. Having been observed to fly two into wind circuits and then head north and not be sighted again, it is possible that the aircraft then commenced crosswind operations onto the north/south arm of the lake, landing in a southerly direction with a crosswind from the left. Information from the Bureau of Meteorology indicated that the surface wind in the area at the time of the accident was 090` magnetic at 15 knots. This information was confirmed by witnesses at the dam wall who observed white caps on the surface of the dam. The north/south channel of the lake was bounded on its east side by steep hills rising to 70 metres above water level. The effect of this high ground was to partially blanket the north/south channel from the easterly wind. The position of the wreckage was in the area where the wind shadow effect would have ended and where the wind would have blown at full strength along the main east/west channel of the lake. The crosswind limitation for the aircraft as stated in the flight manual was 8.7 knots. Commenting in early 1988 on an enquiry regarding the raising of this limit, the aircraft manufacturer emphasised the 8.7 knot limit and advised that any test work to raise the limit should proceed cautiously starting at or below the current (8.7 knot) limit. If the aircraft was conducting crosswind operations in the north/south channel, and suddenly encountered a 15 knot crosswind on exiting the wind shadow area, the control difficulties confronting the pilot could have been significant. The aircraft wreckage was intact except for the floats which had been torn off by water impact forces. The right float was severely damaged while the left was intact. The forward tip of the right float had been severed by the propeller. The remaining forward section had then been forced upwards and outboard and had broken off. This weakened the float support structure, causing it to fail, and allowing the remaining section of the right float to strike the right side of the fuselage just aft of the cabin. Damage of this type an magnitude was most probably caused by the nose of the right float digging into the surface of the lake at relatively high speed. For this to occur, the aircraft was banked to the right at float impact - a possible consequence of encountering a strong crosswind from the left. There was no evidence that the aircraft had hit a submerged object.

Apologies if that is too far off topic for some. There are no new prangs - just theme and variation on past ones.

Witness reports on Nine News sounds similar to what occurred in Perth with the Mallard. Wing down into the water.

GA = everything except airlines and military.

Heartbreaking for the operator, the staff, the pilot's family and the pax.

3 Bodies pulled from water, such a sad event, 7 New said its believed it may have it trees on the way down. Hearing it may be VH-NOO

Most certainly a beaver door.

http://i63.tinypic.com/sbltev.png

From ATSB's website:

***UPDATED at 6.15pm***

The ATSB is investigating the fatal accident involving a single-engine seaplane which crashed into water at Cowan Creek, Hawkesbury River, NSW this afternoon.

Preliminary facts and circumstances as they are believed to be as at 6.00pm on 31 December 2017:

At around 3.00pm this afternoon, a DHC-2 Beaver Seaplane, VH-NOO, operated by Sydney Seaplanes was flying in the vicinity of Jerusalem Bay (near Cottage Point).

It is understood that there was one pilot and five passengers on the aircraft on a return flight to Rose Bay, Sydney Harbour.

The sequence of events leading up to the accident are not yet understood, however following the impact with the water, the aircraft is reported to have sunk rapidly.

The ATSB's Executive Director Transport Safety Nat Nagy and a team of three Transport Safety investigators are travelling to the accident site and will commence their work to determine the causal factors surrounding this tragic accident once the NSW Police activities have concluded.

The ATSB encourages anyone who witnessed the accident to call 1800 020 616 and register their details.

The ATSB will aim to release a preliminary factual report in approximately 30 days.

A final report into the accident may take up to 12 months to complete. However, should a safety issue be identified during the course of the investigation, the ATSB will immediately notify relevant parties.

Wasn't there a similar accident a few years ago?

FAR CU
Thanks for your post - that report was unknown to me.
Like you, I spent plenty of time flying floatplanes around Pittwater, Sydney Harbour and the Hawkesbury.
Our paths probably crossed at Barrenjoey Boat House.
That area certainly has resulted in many floatplane accidents.
I was working at the Boatshed (not flying) the day of the last fatal accident.
Very tragic situation.

You may be thinking of Cessna 185E VH-HTS operated by South Pacific Seaplanes. 5 fatalities on 26 July 1998.
https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/24994/...802830_001.pdf

zzuf - we were probably hoeing into one of Carmel's great hamburgers at the time. VH-HTS, the C185, used to be with Wilderness Air at Strahan in Tasmania. The principal there was one KP. I christened him Captain Sudden as he sometimes threw his seaplanes around like a dodgem car driver. When he was asked if HTS stood for anything in particular, he point to the battery and jumper leads in the luggage compartment and said -
"Gees yeah . . .. HARD TO START."

The wreckage of HTS at Berowra was notable in that the scatter was closely confined, pointing right off to a stall/ spin being the end result, but really not the prime cause at all. (There were many
other earlier factors that in hindsight pointed to a calamity in the making.)

Anyone know what he is up to these days, just out of curiosity? Maybe send a PM rather than hijack this tragic thread...

That's the one, thank you.

Not deep - only 13m. Police recovery divers routinely use twin tanks with isolator valve and double regulators as redundancy as they often need to operate in poor visibility and solo.

from BBC


Police divers have recovered six bodies from the wreckage, which is lying in 13m (43 ft) of water. The identity of those aboard has not yet been released. Local media said the aircraft was from scenic flight company Sydney Seaplanes.Investigators do not yet know why the plane crashed.

Acting Superintendent Michael Gorman said the "recovery operation continues" at the site where the single-engine aircraft crashed.
Unconfirmed reports said the casualties included an 11-year-old boy, the pilot and four British nationals. The British Foreign Office said: "Officials from the British consulate are in contact with local authorities in relation to a seaplane accident near Sydney. Staff are ready to provide consular assistance."

A woman at the scene said the weather had been "a bit bumpy" but "nothing to be concerned about".

An eyewitness, Myles Baptiste, told the broadecaster 9News that the plane was 500m (1640ft) from him when it hit the water.
"It made a tight right-hand turn and as it actually turned around, the wings dipped and it nosedived straight into the water," he said.
It is not yet clear whether divers will be able to recover the seaplane itself on Sunday or will have to wait until Monday

Low and slow, turned and stalled...at least that’s what it sounds like. To go straight into the water and submerge doesn’t sound like an an landing incident. Terribly sad..

Dangerous Speculation.
 

Didn't see low reported.
Didn't see slow reported.
For completeness, didn't see right float support failure reported either.

Witness said it entered a turn then nose dived. Normally that’s low and slow, though of course something might have broken, time will tell.
Float support failure has nothing to do with entering a nose dive from a turn, no idea what you mean by that. Anyhow, tragic loss for reasons as yet unknown.
Fly safe everyone!

Words fail me.

Unconfirmed reports said the casualties included an 11-year-old boy, the pilot and four Britons.

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...or-light-plane

Happy New Year seems to stick in the throat.

UK Guardian newspaper running this

UK Guardian:
"The company, which has been operating for 80 years”
Err, ok...

come to proone for a flurry of brilliant insights into the complexities of aerodynamics/structures. plus fatuous puerile responses. (old mate said to stop stirring the possum. then again - it can be a national pastime - a past-master being the late lamented John Clarke.)

in many throats in fact

the late Ted Sly (a man with much wisdom of the wing deep in his bones)
used to put it down to - THE LUCK OF THE DRAW

My response was in reference to an earlier post regarding a witness report of the plane nose diving out of a turn. Sure, if you’re floats fell off, or alike, it would screw with your aerodynamics! But I bet in this incident Float attachment failure will have nothing to do with the a/c entering a nose dive from a turn.
Anyhow, let’s wait for the report.

Having flown floats, I find it quite unusual that nothing floated, especially the floats. So much buoyancy in those compartments! :(

I agree - astonishing really !

Presnell lost his Beaver VH-NAQ blown away off Sudbury Cay
The only bit ever recovered was one float found later by a fisherman,
washed up on the Reef.