Aircraft down off Redcliffe
 

Aircraft in water near Newport QLD looks like it crashed after take off from Redcliffe. Reported that four were on board. Does not look good.

Non-paywall link to courier-mail:

https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https:/...16e1964204c231

Not good
 

Certainly doesn’t sound good.

ABC running an article too.
can’t post the link though.

It's unclear whether there's any evidence that there were four people onboard, or whether it's just "it has four seats and therefore there could have been four people onboard". Hopefully the latter.

I am no expert on aircraft types, but that wing shape makes me think Comanche?

Must have been extremely short on time during the emergency, landing gear still extended for a ditching was more than likely not thier intentions.

Looks like a Rockwell Commander.

Single engine.

Redcliffe
 

Looks a lot like WMM.

Will not have to wait for the divers, another 3 hours it will be sitting on mudflat

Nine News footage just confirmed that. Seems to be elevated above water slowly as the arvo progresses.

Four confirmed deceased
 

7 NEWS is reporting four confirmed deceased. 2 from Brisbane and 2 from Canberra. Witnesses stated the aircraft appeared to be having engine trouble and they looked like they attempted to turn around and make it back to the runway.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-...e=abc_news_web

Can’t find WMM on the register. (head scratch)

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....80be5513ea.png
…and then I searched for the rego of the aircraft I fly, and it does not show either. Must be my fat thumbs or CASA’s ‘upgraded’ website.

Leave the VH- off and it will work.

Would you believe the ‘VH-‘ is pre-populated?

I should have realised…

(PS: thanks greeb)

I have around 1800hrs in the 114 and can say with the gear out they glide like a brick. Sad sad situation, the return to land after EFATO has trapped many an aviator.

ABC reporting 59 yo male pilot, another male and two children all deceased.

Looking at the images, the aircraft is inverted in the water, either floating or it’s in really shallow water. Makes you wonder why it flipped.

Sad outcome.

Redcliffe Ditching
 

It was a retract. It look like a gear-down landing in shallow water. The engine appears torn off and the tail dislodged after it flipped.
Upside down would make it hard to exit. If a retract and ditching it is best to land gear up and open the doors before touch down.

Bad news so close to Christmas.

Maybe no time to retract? May have been fixated on returning to airfield and not ditching? Sadly we will probably never know.

Sad day for the families. RIP

yes that was my thought too. Doesn’t seem to be anyone recording Redcliffe CTAF on liveatc, wonder if he had a chance to get a call out.

From ABC

The pilot was a 69-year-old man, with police saying they believe it was a booked joy flight

RIP

Thoughts go out to rescue crews, family, friends and all at Redcliffe Airport.

Spare a thought for the Qld water police and divers. Very tough job at the best of times, there were two kids in the plane.

This is appalling. It looks like the front of the aircraft is extensively damaged, so possibly not a controlled ditching.

This plane has been around

formally registered as.... ZK-ELL, N96ET, N747WW, OO-TTC, C-GIHV, N4899W


https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/270937

Stall spin after EFATO due to engine component failure or fuel exhaustion would be my initial thoughts.

There’s some recovery photos coming through.
 

Moreton Alert on FB have some recovery photos up now. :(

Firstly, this is a tragedy for the families and friends, traumatic for the rescue personnel and may the deceased RIP.

Perhaps there are some lessons to be learned which may come to light after a proper investigation. In the meantime, knowlege of the runway in use could provide a time factor and possible thought process. The wind on 19th appears to favour 07. The crash site appears to be adjacent to the wetlands area, approximately 1nm NW of the airport. The direction of flight prior to impact can't be definitively determined from the inverted resting site, but may have been from a westerly heading. The gear is down. The flaps appear to be retracted. This would appear a less than ideal configuration for a planned ditching or energy management.

Stall/spin? I'd doubt the later due to the apparent damage from energy disipation. A proper investigation will be more telling.

Radio call? Bottom of the priority list, but if given may relay intent/ highlight priority management.

A sad situation. Let's wait for the formal report.

I like that, you’ve told us what it isn’t based on your opinion but yet you’re telling us to wait for the report??

Did many single engine overwater joy flights a million years ago when I first got my license. Never liked it.

Don’t think the water had much to do with this one, the result wouldn’t have been much different if it happened over farmland or suburbia. Let’s just wait and see.

I have no time on type. Is retract gear on EFATO checklist?

What powers the landing gear? Engine driven hydraulics? Electric? Electron driven hyd pump?

Electrically powered hydraulic power pack, similar to most of the other single engine retractables. I’m pretty sure the system would struggle to retract the gear if the alternator wasn’t pumping out it’s normal output.

It’s gut wrenching to hear about these EFATO incidents when things go terribly wrong very quickly. Having lost a very good mate and mentor in his beloved V35 Bonanza which I also flew about 30 years ago, it certainly drives the message home to me before I take off in anything - have an emergency plan and self brief it or as a crew before every take off - NO EXEMPTIONS. At least then you have half a chance of a good outcome, even if the aircraft is destroyed.

Good initial and re-currency training saves lives in my humble opinion.

That's what I expected - that the electrics might struggle to retract, and on some types the retract process temporarily increases drag due to doors opening, esp. on bigger aircraft e.g. B747.
If this was an EFATO it may have just been a lot of bad luck. Low, comparatively heavy with four up, no options except to land straight ahead. You get one chance to execute it as best you can while your heart climbs up into your throat. My grandfather died in not dissimilar conditions. I feel for all concerned.

There seems to be a lot of focus on that it was an EFATO, the news reports don't say much other than it went down behind the mangroves out of sight and then was later found by another aircraft in the circuit. Could have been numerous things, incapacitation, EFATO, other control failure, who knows. Unless the airframe failed, which does not look likely, then aircraft age and (old) history have almost nothing to do with it. Looks like the rear underside of the fuselage took quite a beating in the sequence so it may not have initially hit inverted. In any case ATSB will figure it out at some point.

The 114 has a very lazy hydraulic pump that only allows basically 1 main gear retraction at a time.
i always taught my students to obtain a positive rate of climb and pull the gear in. As I said the 114 glides like a brick with the gear out. A great load carrier but with a ZFW, two cabin doors but aerodynamically a bit of a sled 145kts downhill out of an IO540.

In respect to payload, two passengers described as younger than teen. :(

Mjb

At least add another 80-100 kg.

Circuit direction at Redcliffe is always over the water, 07 left hand 25 right hand, so not an intentional trip over the water, it just how it is there. 07 departures you will normally be over the water by the time you reach 500ft.