Australia

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    Australian Scientist Claims Monitoring Cloud Changes Can Help Locate MH370

    While the search for missing MH370 continues, an Australian scientist has claimed that cloud microphysics can help in locating the plane.

    According to Hydrometeorologist Aron Gingis, the technology is capable of identifying the cloud changes caused by the vapor trails which are left behind by fuel emissions of the plane. He claimed that this technology has been successfully used to track shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean.

    In a formal communication to the Malaysian High Commissioner Eldeen Husaini, Gingis wrote on April 3, “I believe that we have a realistic chance to follow flight path of Malaysian Airline MH370 and follow its flight direction and possibly identifying its landing or crash site…I would be required to fly to KL and to have a detailed briefing with Malaysian search and rescue authorities in order to be able to identify and search for specific satellite availability and all satellite data imagery frames that we can analyse using our cloud microphysics algorithms. The traveling to KL and back to Melbourne and 1 day briefing session will be sufficient to explain to your search and rescue authorities as of our ability to identify the flying trails of MH370…I believe that we will be able to utilize our expertise and identify the flight pass of MH370 and then to direct the search and rescue authorities to save or recover MH370 passengers.”

    Gingis offered to provide help for $17500, however, both Malaysian and Australian authorities have rejected his offer.

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    Helicopter Crashed on a Mountain in North Queensland

    HelicopterA Bell Jet Ranger helicopter crashed on a big rock on Mount Cook, near Cooktown in north Queensland, Australia, on October 7.

    Apparently, the helicopter got caught in a strong gust of wind which caused it to flip shortly after it took off about 12:45 p.m.

    There were 6 people aboard the helicopter at the time of accident. One of them was airlifted to Townsville Hospital, while another man, aged 60, was taken to Cooktown Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A 40-year-old passenger was also taken to Cooktown Hospital but was later discharged.

    The other 3 people aboard remained uninjured.

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    Elderly Passenger Forced Emergency Landing in Sydney

    Australia by AirA small four-seater Beechcraft Duchess plane had to make an emergency landing in a paddock in Sydney, Australia, on August 25, due to odd behaviour of an 82-year-old man on board.

    The plane was chartered by the old man for a business trip from Sydney suburb of Bankstown to Cowra. According to the Acting Inspector Gareth Smith, the man started acting erratically mid-air. “The pilot said that he started grabbing the controls, turning off fuel lines, and turning buttons randomly on and off,” he said.

    The 23-year-old pilot had to fight and restrain the elderly passenger to control the plane for emergency landing. The old man sustained head and facial injuries in the process and was transported to hospital.

    The charter company Australia by Air later said in a statement, “The pilot displayed excellent airmanship and skill during the landing, and we thank him for his professionalism.”

    Police are investigating the incident.

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    Australian Pilot Develops ‘GO Light’ System to Mitigate Spatial Disorientation

    CockpitAn Australian pilot, Russell Crane, has invented a Green Orientation Light (GO Light) system, which can help solve the spatial disorientation problem.

    “Presently, to verify orientation when there are no visual cues, the pilot has to focus on their small attitude indicator (AI) instrument… However, this verification requires the pilot firstly to recognise that they may be disorientated and actively focus their attention on the AI,” Crane said in a statement.

    However, the GO Light system will provide a constant reference point to the horizon in the pilot’s peripheral vision, which will continually keep him informed about the plane’s altitude. According to Crane, this will not only mitigate the issue of unrecognized spatial disorientation, but will also allow pilots to focus more on other instruments while being confident and aware about the plane’s altitude and orientation.

    Ron Bartsch, the Chairman of AvLaw International said, “GO Light takes the concept of the AI and turns it into a constant part of the pilot’s subconscious perception. If this concept can be taken forward and commercialised, it could be the most important Australian aviation invention since the black box.”

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    Cessna 210 Crashed in Clive State Forest; 1 Dead, 2 Injured

    fireA Cessna 210 heading to Brisbane crashed and burst into flame near Inverell airport in the Clive State Forest, NSW, Australia, after 1 p.m. on July 4.

    The incident happened when the plane was carrying three people aboard; the pilot was identified as Dr. Mark Harding. Also aboard were his wife Cara Harding. 47, and their 18 year old daughter. The pilot and his wife suffered critical burn injuries while the daughter sustained only minor injuries. All of them were taken to Inverell Hospital.

    The authorities confirmed that Cara Harding succumbed to her injuries early Saturday, while her husband remains in critical condition.

    Australian Transport Safety Bureau will investigate the plane crash.

    The crashed Cessna was built in 1980, and was registered to Dr Harding in September, 2012.

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    Qantas Flight Diverts to Tamworth due to Damaged Tire

    QantasA Qantas flight en route to Armidale from Sydney had to divert and make an emergency landing in Tamworth, NSW, Australia, on June 17.

    The incident happened after one of the plane’s tires blew off during take-off. According to Qantas, the plane carrying 44 people was diverted to Tamworth because maintenance facilities were available at the airport.

    The fire brigade, ambulances and police responded. The Tamworth Base Hospital was also put on alert.

    The plane made a safe landing at about 9 p.m., after burning off extra fuel. No one was injured.

    The passengers were transported to Armidale by bus.

    Qantas engineers replaced the damaged tire.

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    2 Injured after a Light Plane Crashed in NSW

    A light plane made a crash landing in scrub land, around 40km south of Narrabri, New South Wales, Australia.

    The incident happened at about 4:30 p.m. on June 12.

    According to the police, they were informed that the emergency landing occurred due to suspected engine failure.

    The plane was carrying 2 people at the time of crash; both of them were injured. The 69 year old pilot was flown to Tamworth Hospital with broken ribs and cuts to his head while the 32 year old passenger suffered minor leg injury and was shifted to Narrabri Hospital. Authorities confirmed that both of the injured are in stable condition.

    Police have launched an investigation into the incident.

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    Single-Engine Plane Crash Lands at Bankstown Airport, NSW

    CessnaA single engine Cessna aircraft crash-landed at Bankstown Airport in New South Wales, Australia on May 16.

    The fire and rescue teams were informed at about 9:30 a.m. after the aircraft crashed into the fence while attempting to land at the runway. However, rescue officials said that there was no immediate risk of fire since the fuel tank remained undamaged.

    According to the NSW police, the pilot of the Cessna aircraft, a 19 year old girl, survived the crash and is currently being treated for minor injuries.

    Mario Bayndrian, the general manager aviation of Bankstown Airport, said that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has been informed about the crash.

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    Cirrus Aircraft Makes Parachute Landing in Blue Mountains, NSW

    CirrusThe male pilot of the Cirrus SR22 aircraft landed the plane with a parachute in the yard of a house at Lawson, Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, at 2.10pm on May 10.

    The pilot deployed the parachute of the aircraft at 1300 meters due to reasons not yet known. He successfully avoided houses and major power lines before parachute landing.

    Both the people on board miraculously survived; only one had to be transported to hospital for neck pain. However, the front fence of the house was damaged.

    Sydney Flying Club president Allan Bligh said “Cirrus light planes have a handle in the cockpit which, when pulled, fires off a cover-plate and deploys a parachute”. He further said that the pilot probably used it for the first time in his life.

    Cirrus claimed that by January this year 85 lives have been saved by use of these parachutes when pilots or passengers have activated the system. There are about 200 of these aircrafts registered in Australia, mostly owned by businesses for trips of up to 1800 kilometres.

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    Cobham Aviation Plane Landed in Emergency After Engine Fire

    One of the engines of a British Aerospace BAE-146 plane caught fire in Western Australia, after which it had to make an emergency landing at Perth Domestic Airport.

    The Cobham Aviation flight, carrying 97 people, was en route from Perth to Barrow Island. One of the four engines caught fire during its climb, shortly after the take-off.  The plane was then turned back towards Perth airport where it made a safe emergency landing.

    All the passengers and crew members exited safely.

    The cause of fire is under investigation.

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    Perth Bound Qantas Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Adelaide

    QantasA Qantas flight carrying 266 passengers made an emergency landing in Adelaide, on suspicion of smoke in the cargo hold.

    The A330 aircraft was en route from Sydney to Perth when the smoke warning alarm was activated, indicating fire in the cargo hold. The pilot diverted the plane to Adelaide where it landed at about 12:40pm on April 4.

    According to Qantas, “The flight deck received a warning light indicating a technical issue, so as a safety precaution the pilots made the decision to divert to Adelaide. The aircraft landed without incident and passengers disembarked via normal procedure through the aerobridge.”

    Metropolitan Fire Service officers are looking into the cause of the smoke warning alarm activation.

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    Couple Died in Caboolture Airfield Plane Crash, Leaving Behind Six Children

    Plane crash

    The Caboolture Airfield plane crash happened on Sunday, 22nd March 2014, and killed all 5 on-board including Rahi Hohua, and her fiancé Joey King.

    Rahi, 27 and Joey, 32 were engaged to marry, and had six children. The trip was Joey’s gift to his fiancée.

    A couple of hours before the crash, Joey updated a social media status, disclosing his fear of skydiving. Within hours of tragedy, Joey’s worried friends returned to Facebook hoping that the plane that crashed was not their friends’.

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    Investigation into Deadly Cessna 206 Crash near Brisbane Continues

    The Cessna 206 operated by Adrenalin Skydivers crashed during takeoff on March 22 at the airstrip, 50km north of Brisbane.  Five persons, including the pilot, two tandem instructors and a couple were killed.

    The Managing Director of Aero Dynamic Flight Academy and the Safety Officer of Caboolture Airfield, Bryan Carpenter said the aviation community is shattered by the ­tragic incident. He said it was not possible at this stage to speculate the cause of the accident.  The possible causes could have been a bird collision, a mechanical failure or a center of gravity shift in the plane.  The plane was reportedly having engine trouble on takeoff.

    The victims included instructors Glenn Norman and Juraj Glesk, and Logan couple Rahuia Hohua and Joey King.

    Adrenalin Skydivers, known as Skydive ­Bribie, uses Caboolture Airfield for picking up tourists for conducting tandem jumps.  They land on nearby Bribie Island.

    Adrenalin Skydivers Pty Ltd also had a similar accident in August 2010 killing seven on board.

    The investigation is being handled by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

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    Small Plane Crash in Queensland Claims 5 Lives

    Plane crash

    A light plane crash in Queensland, Australia, killed five persons on March 22, 2014.

    The Cessna 206 plane took off from Caboolture Airport, located north of Brisbane. The plane crashed and caught fire shortly after the take-off, killing two skydiving customers, two instructors and one pilot at the scene.

    According to the police, the family members of the deceased watched the plane, as it crashed and burnt.

    The plane was owned and operated by a local skydiving company ‘ Adrenalin Skydivers Bribie’.

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    Emergency Landing at Emerald Airport


    After suffering engine trouble, a Virgin flight for Brisbane returned to Emerald Airport and made an emergency landing.

    No injuries were reported. Emergency services responded to the scene. Passengers were provided overnight accommodations.

    In my experience, this does not happen often to Virgin.

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    Missing Plane Found Crashed, Pilot Death on Impact

    On Oct 23, 2013, a Kestrel Aviation Cessna 182Q Skylane en route from Moruya Airport to Mangalore Airport in Australia was en route when it developed problems. The pilot at left 8.15am on Wednesday and never arrived in Mangalore Australia. Five aircraft searched unsuccessfully for the missing plane on Wednesday. An unconfirmed sighting narrowed the search parameters to Mt. Hotham. Eight helicopters and two planes searched Thursday morning until the wreckage was found at 8.40am on Thursday by a search helicopter that was also employing “radar and mobile data.”

    The ATSB is investigating the fatal plane crash. The only one aboard was the pilot, whose injuries were fatal.

    The impact occurred near Mt Hotham, Victoria.

    An Australian attorney told the press that the pilot, 60-year-old Peter Brereton from Euroa was killed in a light plane crash on his way back from dropping off spare parts for a helicopter used in the fire fighting efforts on the far south coast of NSW.

    A specialized team of 4 ATSB investigators with expertise in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, materials failure and aircraft operations began investigation #AO-2013-186, a four day examination of the wreckage on the 25th, (friday).

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    Australia: Near Miss

    Two planes that had a near miss avoided a collision by about 700 vertical feet were over Perth when one of the pilot’s collision collision alarm alerted him of the impending collision.

    Flight QF581 from Sydney to Perth had gotten permission from ATC to go from 38,000ft which put them on a collision course with incoming QF 576.

    Both planes swerved out of the way over Gulf St. Vincent.

    Qantas Airbus A330-200, flight QF-576 was en route from Perth,WA to Sydney,NS. Qantas Airbus A330-200 was from Sydney,NS to Perth,WA. ATC gave clearance to QF581 whose pilot had averted disaster by the time clearance was rescinded.

    The “loss of separation” incident is under investigation.

    According to the vice-president of the Australian and International Pilots Association, TCAS typically warns about 25 seconds out.

    * ACAS / TCAS (In-cockpit) TA alerts when there is a risk of collision in 40 seconds.


    Video

    TCAS ALERT

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    Virgin and Jetstar Collide in Australia


    A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 scheduled from Melbourne to Maroochydore had a ground accident on the tarmac.

    The plane collided with a Jetstar AirbusA320. None of the 175 passengers on the Virgin flight were injured but both planes sustained damage.

    The Boeing’s left winglet was damaged.

    The Virgin Australia plane was reversing.

    The Jetstar sustained damage to the tail. It had just returned from Sydney, and was stationary during the collision.

    An investigation is ongoing. Damages of about three million are estimated to each craft.

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    Treestrike Kills Pilot Short of Runway

    A privately owned Cirrus SR22 en route from from Moorabbin Airport was on landing approach when it struck trees and crashed in Boxwood. The plane crashed north of Benalla a city in northeastern Victoria, Australia.

    The plane impacted trees near the private airstrip.

    The 51 year old pilot died at the scene.

    The Australian Transport Safety Bureau and CASA are investigating.

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    Virgin Australia Emergency Landing

    June 18, 2013
    A Virgin Australia plane en route from Brisbane to Adelaide could not land due to foggy conditions, and diverted to Midura where they could not land due to foggy conditions, then made two aborted attempts to land (during foggy conditions) when they nailed the landing on the third try.

    I expect all 85 passengers exited the plane as quickly as their little feet would carry them. (I know I would.) The airline said they would get the passengers from Midura to Adelaide but did not indicate if a plane, bus, or carrier pigeon was going to be employed.

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    Two Gliders Crash in New South Wales

    Two gliders, one of which was a Let L-13A1 Blaník, collided in New South Wales in a rural area in Carrick, near Goulburn. The incoming glider clipped the tail of the two-seater which nose-dived to the ground.

    One 72-year-old pilot, a member of Southern Tablelands Gliding Club, landed his glider safely.

    The fifty year old pilot of the other glider died on impact with the ground. His 70 year-old passenger had to be extricated from the back seat of the aircraft. He sustained major injuries and was airlifted to Liverpool Hospital.

    The accident occurred at 3.40pm on April 27, 2013.

    Emergency services, including Ambulance, Police, Towrang RFS and Police Rescue responded.

    The pilots were experienced. The ground crew including the winch operator and pilots of both gliders were on the same radio network but the club is “mystified” why the accident occurred.

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    Maxem Aviation Cessna Flight Aborted

    A Maxem Aviation Cessna 560 Citation Encore blew a tire at 6.02 am during an aborted takeoff from Perth Airport.

    Subsequently, the plane came to rest without landing gear with two blown main gear tires.

    The Cessna sustained minor damage. No injuries were reported among the two pilots and seven passengers.

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    Australian Cessna Crash Kills Two Local Celebrities


    On March 25, a Cessna T210N Turbo Centurion crashed at 5:30 a.m. in a paddock two miles from Roma Airport, Queensland. Two people were aboard, bull rider John Quintana, and the national head of Ray White’s Livestock business, Charlie Maher, both of whom died on the scene. On impact, an emergency beacon activated.

    There was a 500 meter debris field. Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Canberra alerted police. Fire crews were called and Careflight but no one survived the crash.

    The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the crash site at Hartley Lane in Orange Hill to begin their investigation.


    Investigation title:
    Collision with terrain involving Cessna T210N, VH-MEQ, 2 km west of Roma Airport, Queensland on 25 March 2013
    ATSB Investigation # AO-2013-057
    The ATSB is investigating a fatal aircraft accident involving a Cessna T210N that occurred on 25 March 2013 near Roma, Queensland.
    Soon after takeoff, the aircraft collided with terrain. The two occupants died in the accident and the aircraft was destroyed.

    A team of four investigators will arrive at the accident site tonight to begin the on-site investigation.

    The team comprises experts in engineering, materials failure and aircraft operations.

    While onsite, the team will be:

    • examining and photographing the wreckage and any ground scars
    • interviewing witnesses
    • examining aircraft documents.

    The team is expected to be onsite for around four days.
    If you have any information about the accident, please call the ATSB on 1800 020 616.

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    Four Killed in Helicopter Crash in New South Wales

    On March 21, 2013 at about 1215 Eastern daylight-saving time, a Bankstown Heliport Robinson R44 on a private flight from Bankstown to Bulli Tops, New South Wales with four aboard suffered a terrain collision near Panorama House in Bulli Tops near Wollongong in NSW.

    Emergency services arrived on the scene around 1:43 pm. After the crash, the helicopter burned. Thirty units responded to the scene.

    The ATSB is investigating.

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    Two injured in Fraser Island

    A plane taking off from Rainbow Beach airport crashed in Queensland. Both people aboard were injured when they impacted the ground on Fraser Island.

    One was treated at the scene, one hospitalized with head and leg injury at Nambour Hospital.