Aero commander down QLD
 

have heard that while on a bushfire-related flight out of Toowoomba, Victorian-based Agair Logistics P/L Gulfstream American Corporation 695A Jetprop Commander 1000 VH-HPY as "Birddog 370", has been uncontactable and now vanished from radar between Cloncurry and Mount Isa…
UPDATES…
RFDS King Air “Flydoc445” is diverting towards Cloncurry to have a look.
Mount Isa based helicopter “Rescue 400” heading out to look.
Ground crew from Cloncurry heading out too.
ADF Cessna 208 Caravan “Waler 11” might also come down from Borroloola.

Light aircraft down near McKinlay, Qld
 

ABC article

”multiple occupants” 😢

3 POB

From the AustralianThe Australian

“Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has launched an investigation.

A witness told Nine News they had seen a plume of smoke about 30km off the Landsborough Highway around the area the plane reportedly crashed.

Investigations into the incident are ongoing.

No aircraft has yet been found.

It’s understood the missing plane is 275 Gulfstream 695A Jetprop Commander 1000 known as a “Birddog”.

The plane disappeared of the flight radar between Mt Isa and Cloncurry after departing Toowoomba earlier in the day.”

VH-HPY matches the type and can be seen on FR 24 in the area at 28000 ft until it slows and descends and then disappears.

Very odd last 3 minutes of recorded flight. 28,000ft, 220 kts then slows to 107 kts, turns left rapidly through about 240 deg left descending and accelerating rapidly to 25,000 then disappears off tracking. The last few months has been awful for GA.

Very strange. Another one that has just dropped like a brick looking at the data with that rego above. Terrible.

Satellite looks clear and cell activity which was also building was over Georgetown way. Seemed well clear.

What'd cause the descent from FL280 -> FL150 and climb back to 280 early in the piece? Do the firescan ops require that, or could it be indicative of a pressurisation issue?

-HPY was also the rego of the Twotter we lost in PNG when the students turned up the wrong valley and couldn't outclimb the terrain. :(

Jetprop commander crash Northwest QLD
 

Listening in on frequency this arvo and the aircraft in question didn't make any radio communications or respond to ATC when it first descended from FL280 and later dropped off ADSB coverage at FL247, reportedly in a steep descent. Last I heard the wreckage was spotted and based on my understanding it was one that you don't walk away from. Does anyone have any updates on the health of the pilot & pax??

My first thoughts were pressurization with the altitude involved. The speed seems to indicate that perhaps there was quite a bit of headwind at 280 giving them a GS of around 220kts, then descent to 150 and they were making 250kts, possibly indicating less headwind. The track also looks like it made a slight right turn at one point and is missing Isa by some distance, which further lends to possible pressurization issues. The final part looks like possibly power loss, windmilling prop would slow it down fast at that level, left engine, slows, stall warning disconnects autopilot and it rolls and descends to the left, which is the path it would follow if the crew were not in a position to control it. I'm not familiar with the 695A but if it has multiple tanks it could have run one dry by then if the pilot was unconscious. In any case it's another bad day for GA. Does the 695A have recording equipment? if so that might be the only real clue to what has happened.

Reports are saying 3 on board. AC69?

Is that typical of an asymmetrical event? I was coincidentally reading about one of these recently that lost an engine and ended up in a spin.

If the aircraft was conducting fire spotting ops and was on task then the possibility of being caught in a 'firestorm' similar to a thunderstorm is a consideration.
The 690A Turbo Commanders has a very low Vma speed and structural failure in a firestorm is a possibility.
There was a B200 operated by xxx xxx at Essendon many years ago caught in a firestorm event and bent the wings. The pilot and crew was very lucky to survive.

Reporting in The Australian,
Behind a paywall
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/three-feared-dead-in-queensland-plane-crash/news-story/76e401a59cabb97015a13f4c32ad7f48

VH-HPY AC95 according to FR24

Was the aircraft in one piece at impact?

I have a vague recollection that Vb is quite low for a speedy aircraft.

ABC News
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-...urry/103065708

The aircraft register shows HPY is a Turbo Commander 690A.

Students? Where was the instructor?

The Twin Otter was being flown in PNG.
The aircraft was on lease to the Australian Army
The instructor was in the cabin

Three similar threads merged.

A friend of mine was killed in a GAM Aerocommander at Killmore Gap when the wings clapped.
I can't help but wonder how much low level FAC/Bird-Doggin' this machine has done.
How very sad for the friends and families. So sad.