One down in PNG - Sunday 27th July - C402C, VH-TSI
 

Reports filtering through suggest a C402C, registered VH-TSI has crashed in Central Province, Port Moresby, on Sunday 27th July
The registration is current on the Australian register with a Port Moresby owner.

Various reports suggest illegal flight and drug residue being located. The aircraft owner is a well known Port Moresby business man.

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NOTAM just issued - ELB radiating from crash site.

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Here’s a link from the Post Courier in POM


https://postcourier.com.pg/plane-cra...-port-moresby/

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Anyone know where Fred Martens is these day?

I think it is rather interesting that an aircraft can be flying around inside the Port Moresby Control Zone pretty much on the approach path to runway 14, and go un-noticed.
Regardless of Transponder and/or ADSB (if fitted) being turned off, would there not be a primary paint.

It's about time CASA PNG just told operators if you want to fly in PNG you must have ADSB and serviceable and switched ON at all times. Probably would enhance safety.

There’s one for old mate LeadSled.

Flight Radar 24 shows TSI departing Mareeba northbound around 0930 local Sunday morning. Apparently still had some life in the transponder at that stage!

Here’s another article from the Post Courier.

https://postcourier.com.pg/burnt-rem...f-plane-found/

From EMTV
 

https://emtv.com.pg/plane-crash-unde...sgjqXObUQXQB6U

TSI
 

Out of curiosity, who operates TSI these days?

She used to be based in TSV with Inland Pacific back in the day.
Not a bad balus by all accounts. Sad to see how she's ended up.

BAz

AVLEASE Pty Ltd is listed as operator. PO Box at Alice Springs. Anyone know who runs AVLEASE?

Comments on Facebook are about as believable as comments on YouTube videos.

Australian Federal Police are at the scene of the abandoned aircraft.
The Aussie High Commission advises the pilot is an Australian.

Bit more here https://news.pngfacts.com/2020/07/pn...ot-of.html?m=1

There is also a post on Facebook with an aerial photo of where the 402 ended up. Thought **** like this only happened in South America!

The story on this will be an interesting read and go down in the history books in a few years.

[QUOTE=beached az;10847760]Out of curiosity, who operates TSI these days?

She used to be based in TSV with Inland Pacific back in the day.
Not a bad balus by all accounts. Sad to see how she's ended up.


TSI was a pretty good bus when Hinterland operated her out of Cairns around 10 years ago. A shame to see how she’s ended up.

Good Intel. So Maraba took over from Geoffrey Bull when he died/ was killed last year by the sound of that. Avlease definitely a smokescreen.The paperwork only starts January this year.

spelled MARAGA

TBL Warrier, that Google Maps image is that the actual airfield? Looks like it could be an old WW2 strip but a Google search doesn't come up with anything. I remember a strip north west of POM, I think it was Rorona Rogers, that had some Airacobras parked on the side but largely intact from the air, that we would fly over back in the 80s but I'm pretty sure it wasn't that one

Maisk Rotum. You may be thinking of Rogers Strip in Galley Reach? That strip is not Rogers.

I don't recall a strip being in that position and looking at the Facebook photos, it appears to be graded quite recently so may be a recent construction? Looks long enough for a C402, wonder what happened, U/C collapse?

It was 42 1/2 years ago years since the Aero Commander N1935W
from Asia was intercepted by pure bad luck by a RAAF C130 near Katherine NT.

Google Life and times of Donald Tait.
Some good pics in there too... look at the livery on the fuselage

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1...ER00672_d.html

Which is the referred to Facebook page?

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister has ordered Australian and PNG police to investigate....

https://postcourier.com.pg/pm-orders...crash-landing/

AFP didn't need the PM to be investigating of course! Lot of bluster happening right now. Real story yet to emerge

For all you who reckon that was a nice plane...who the hell bent the rear door? The thing couldn't close properly and always had a inch gap in it - completely serviceable of course. Used to freak the punters out sitting next to it. Many won't miss that thing.

40 + year old 402, it would have already been crashed, overload many times, crash landed by incompetent pilots, thousands of over weight pax on it and all the rest of it and you don’t expect the door to be straight.....

Duck Pilot. None of the 402’s I’ve flown fall into that category!

AVLEASE PTY LTD in Alice Springs is not a 'smokescreen" in the usual sense.

But it was misused by shady characters.

AVLEASE owner/director also runs NORTHERN TERRITORY AIR SERVICES . Legit business.

AVLEASE boss Ian Scheyer said today he had been approached to do an airworthy when VH-TSI changed hands two years ago.

That never happened.VHS-TSI was flown to Mareeba and sat on the ground for a couple of years without paperwork.

Shouldn't have been flying.

On the PNG end, RACENSPOL no 69 was run by GEOFFREY BULL until last year when he allegedly was murdered by his business partner.

This person is of Chinese-Central province mix. Anyone know his name?

(Bull by the way a dreadful crook with very shady past, despite being president of political party founded by former Prime Minister Wingti)

What the hell has a bend door got to do with a drug runner running illegal **** into PNG!!!

Moving along, rumours are that a few PNG business people and a couple PNG politicians may be associated with this incident, based on some of the stuff floating around on other social media forums. Google is your friend!

Guns and ammunition are currency in PNG,

I believe the aircraft owners business partner "accidently" died in a hail of bullets, some 30 rounds or so. Mr Bull was connected to the National Party. The other limiting factor is Avgas. So Mareeba to another part of Northern Australia and refuel from a drum or two or three and fill up or take it with you and land on a remote strip. All the plastic jerry cans pictured at the accident site would suggest fairly good flight planning.. You then have a considerable radius of action. If the aircraft refuelled at Mareeba then its a key lock bowser unless from drums on a trailer.

The aircraft owner is the key to the whole story. What are the odds of a person stealing an Australian registered aircraft owned by a PNG national company and having it crash on your door step??

******** One thing is for certain, the AFP will be watching this thread closely, ********

This photo
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9d2b2d1747.jpg
has appeared on Facebook, social media platform, make of it what you will.....

Sounds like a similar plot to the Aerostar that mysteriously exploded at Tamworth back in August 1989. Fitted with long range fuel tanks and ahead of its time with a LRN system, it was rumoured to disappear in the dark of night to remote areas in the North of Australia.

The family of the owner were in court 2 years later on charges related to a $5million drug ring. They were acquitted. The Father retired from Cathay and claimed they had money because he brought a suitcase containing $1.25 million in cash back to Australia when he retired.

I guess he was an ‘A’ scaler ;)

Lol, coz the AFP get all their intel from pprune threads!

TBL,

Well done, great pic!

https://www.thenational.com.pg/pilot-found-charged/


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....431f550dfb.jpg

Cutmore was imprisoned in NZ for smuggling parrots by light plane from RCL to MTA in 1993. The (alleged) career progression to higher value contraband shows initiative?

Slightly off topic, but the northern borders are still wide open.
Reminds me of a case back in the early '80's, a young pilot from Melbourne travelled to Cairns, hired a Piper Arrow from the Nth Queensland Aero Club, and flew to Horn Island, refuelled then popped accross to Daru to pick up some mates of his who were UK citizens not wanting to leave Aus. They left Aus flew to Port Moresby then to Daru. Waited for the Arrow to arrive to smuggle them back into Aus.
All came unstuck when Customs or Police were holding a training session that day at Daru....
Nth Qld Aero Club had to fly to PNG to retrieve their aircraft.
The same pilot was later accused but not charged with flying under West Gate bridge in Melbourne.

An "official" leak from POM this morning suggest the Australian Federal Police knew about the whole deal from start to finish. Monitoring the whole process.
It's all about the "connections"

ex ABC: Australian pilot detained in PNG over mystery plane crash allegedly......
 

ABC link here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-...crash/12508584

rgds
S28- BE

No reflection on the people of that nation but PNG is still living in the stone age in some respects.

How could someone grade an old wartime strip less than 20 km from Port Moresby and not be noticed?

So this guy flies under the RADAR (literally) with his transponder turned off and no-ones the wiser except he crashed and burned,

I have a mate that flies for Air Nuigini, I'll try to get the real rumors on this story.

Daz

So, with no refueling facilities, I guess it’s safe to assume that this was an inbound freight flight.?

Assuming that being the case, one wonders what was on board the aircraft. I doubt it was drugs because the customer base in Oz has a far far higher disposable income.

Only thing of universal value I know of in PNG are guns. What’s a feasibly overloaded 402 carry? 1000 kg? On a $$/kg basis, guns and ammo are relatively low value and high risk in Oz.

This “adventure” makes no sense. It will be interesting to learn the real reason for the flight.