G/A Light Aircraft ditches off Leighton Beach, WA
 

Ch 9 reporting that a light aircraft has ditched just offshore at Leighton Beach, WA. at approx 1710 WST this arvo.
Leighton Beach approx 1nm N of Fremantle Harbour.

Blurred image shows aircraft is about 20 m or so offshore and is fully submerged.
Female pilot and young male pax - (Mother & Son?) - swam to shore and are reported as 'being OK'. Seas look to be 'calm'.

Ch reporter said acft was a 'Cessna Birddog'.....looks low wing to me - thru blurred water image - it will all come out - eventually.
The fact that it did not seem to have 'flipped' might suggest a retractable u/c..??
WA Police and 'Ambos' in attendance...More to follow I would imagine.

That is all.....

It's a Piper Archer VH-FEY and the pilot is the owner. She has a CPL, is very capable and handled the ditching really well.

Two bits of excitement in one day! It is not every day you get to see a full solar eclipse, and safely ditch your aircraft, and it looks good they came out of it unscathed.

A wag would say they could have done a bit less family bonding, or used another method to save on landing fees, but....

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-...hton/102249554

"Ms Yeats said she was speaking to her son as the plane came down, telling him, "mate, we've just had engine failure, we're going to have to land on the beach".

"He was like 'for real, are you for real?'. I said, 'hopefully this is the most exciting thing that's going to happen in your life and we're going to be okay.'"

"But the best part is, people were rescued and they all came out safe and that's the main thing."

That’s about the time of the eclipse, no? Maybe the engine went into “auto rough” as it sensed impending darkness…. A common feature of single engined aircraft at night, I’m led to believe.

Doesn't this belong under Accidents and Close Calls?

No, she'd watched the eclipse then flown back from Exmouth so that's a few hours difference

Video in Thirsty's link shows a good job of landing. Interesting to see the prop stopped horizontally - probably luck, but well done and good presence of mind if intended.

Comment re [lack of] fuel leakage seemed fairly definite? Hopefully that's not related to the fundamental issue (and for the avoidance of doubt, this comment is not intended to be sarcastic, nor a pointed barb).

FP.

Don't you need an IFR rating to fly under an eclipse? What about a partial eclipse?

only if its IMC…

The ditching was really well done, almost looks like it aqua planed for a short while before biteing in. The prop can be seen slowing to a stop in the last few seconds, so pure luck it went horizontal.

As for cause, they said they had full fuel at the start. Many things can go wrong with the fuel system, which seems the likely area to focus on as the prop was rotating until low speed suggesting oil or a catastrophic mechanical failure unlikely.

Not if it is after first light and before last light.

In the 1976 eclipse we were holding on Eildon (center of the band) at 120. High enough to see the shadow coming and during it we could see the sunlit areas to the north and south. On IFR but that was due to +4 octas to and from EN.

Despite extreme propaganda re "no filters will save your vision" all of us in the Baron had degrees in hard science/engineering and CIG No 13 welding filters were fine.

People call it barefooting.

Aeroplanes call it baretyring. :E

It looked textbook from the shore. Keeping the nose high for so long prevented a higher speed nose-over as the main gear dug in. Hope nobody woke up too sore this morning.

She definitely didn’t land at YEXM, I spoke to everyone who arrived prior to the eclipse. She was either at Yardie Homestead, Coral Bay or maybe she never landed 😉 🥄🥘

Yes you are right, she didn't get all the way to Exmouth, I now know she only went as far as Carnarvon.

Lazy Journalism..
 

If she had landed at an Exmouth area airstrip, Watched the eclipse alongside the aircraft and then departed immediately for home, say1145, she would have needed jet type speeds to ditch near Perth about 5 hours later....In photos of the pilot and aircraft, with rego, it is clearly an Archer II, not a Cessna Bird Dog.
I shakes me weary old head.

Certainly impressive and well done!! I thought she came in very fast, no flaps, resulting in a very sudden stop and it'd be interesting to know why she chose to do that. Maybe she thought skiing in the low/no waves might be a better outcome??

A followup story, including a lengthy interview shows a level headed pilot, doing what she had been trained to do, and doing it well. Listen to the interview.
Plane being towed out of the drink via a winch.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-...each/102250564

The original story at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-...hton/102249554 now has had a bit more material and photos added.

All the above speculation in the preceding posts (mostly incorrect) will be answered. For once, no sensationalising by the ABC media - just a well reported story.

Video of the actual landing, including the impact shown in the original story. The picture of the plane as it is brought to the beach in the second story.

The interview of the pilot in the second story. Note comments of a Qantas pilot who witnessed the landing.

No worries, a bit of polish, buffing up and drying out in the sun and VH-FEY will be good to fly again... [NOT]

Wondering what the cause was? No ATSB investigation?

Flapless, possibly, but "very fast"? No. Check out the angle of attack before touchdown. Much slower and she would have stalled. And in all probability, they were slightly downwind, increasing the groundspeed. She wasn't going "fast". "Very" sudden stop? No, looks like she skied on the wheels/spats for some distance, slowing down, before the mains dug in. A great effort, IMO.