Vintage Biplane With 6 Onboard Goes Missing In Australia

[News_Editor]

Vintage biplane with 6 onboard goes missing in Australia < br />

2012-10-02 23:05:46 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA (BNO NEWS) -- A search-and-rescue operation continued Tuesday for a vintage 1930s biplane carrying six people which went missing in a huge stretch of bushland in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland, police and rescue workers said.

The red 1934 De Havilland biplane had left the town of Monto, about 345 kilometers (214 miles) northwest of Brisbane, shortly after 11 a.m. local time on Monday and was en-route to an airport in Caboolture near Brisbane where it was due to land at around 3:15 p.m. local time.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority's (AMSA) Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) said the aircraft's emergency beacon was briefly activated at approximately 1:30 p.m. local time on Monday but it was not possible to determine where the signal came from because it was not equipped with GPS.

A Dornier aircraft and seven helicopters conducted an initial search on Monday afternoon but found no trace of the missing aircraft. A full-scale aerial search resumed at approximately 8 a.m. local time on Tuesday when eight additional helicopters joined the search-and-rescue operation.

"Weather conditions in the area have not been favorable but a forecast indicates they are likely to improve throughout the day," an AMSA spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the search area covers approximately 540 square nautical miles (1,854 square kilometers) in a bushland region west of Gympie and south of Nambour.

Queensland Police said the aircraft was carrying three men and three women who are all from southeast Queensland. The pilot was identified as 68-year-old Des Porter who had earlier on Monday given scenic flights in his prized biplane at an airshow known as the Monto Fly-In.

It is believed that Porter, who is an experienced pilot, was just 10 years old when he survived a crash in the same plane. The accident in 1954 killed his father and brother but Porter later found the aircraft disassembled in a hangar, after which he put it back together, according to Australian media reports.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-10-02

[billd766]

The good news is that the aircraft is made of wood and fabric and flies slowly which means that when it crashed is was a slow speed crash rather than something like a 747 or Airbus so the survival chances are that much higher.

There is a link here

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-01/missing-pilot-rebuilt-plane-from-crash-parts/4289656

[GentlemanJim]

The good news is that the aircraft is made of wood and fabric and flies slowly which means that when it crashed is was a slow speed crash rather than something like a 747 or Airbus so the survival chances are that much higher.

There is a link here

http://www.abc.net.a...h-parts/4289656

Well, nice theory, but the problem is wood and fabric affords you zero protection on impact and breaks up. If you hit anything at 60 MPH you have less than 50% chance of survival unless you are correctly restrained in a machine designed to absorb impact. This aircraft will likely have been traveling anywhere between 90-120 kts and if it made anything other than a controlled forced landing the heap at the bottom would be very messy. There are many things could be responsible here, the weather, mechanical failure, human error etc. I do have a personal gripe with pilots flying around on their own at this age with groups of passengers in the back. It is simply not safe unless you are flying a twin pilot configuration. Sadly, no matter how healthy you may feel at 68 yrs, you are in the real danger zone of stroke or heart attack and in a machine that is reliant on the pilot less it falls out the skys, even a temporary medical problem can be catastrophic. I am not saying that is what has happened here, but more of a warning from a professional aviator that you should think twice or thrice before doing the same. The problem with crashing out in the bush is that if you survive, unlike the movies, you are generally going to be in a poor state, and maybe imobile and the onset of shock or perhaps any extremes of cold or heat will quickly accelerate the time towards your demise.

[justcruisin]

The aircraft has been located in thick bushland west of the sunshine Coast. There are no survivors.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8542066/search-for-missing-plane-set-to-resume

I am familiar with this area and it is extremely thick forest with no flat areas suitable for conducting a forced landing

[GentlemanJim]

The aircraft has been located in thick bushland west of the sunshine Coast. There are no survivors.

http://news.ninemsn....e-set-to-resume

I am familiar with this area and it is extremely thick forest with no flat areas suitable for conducting a forced landing

Tragic. I guess the Australian's will conduct a thorough investigation and the results of that will let us know what why when etc.

[billd766]

The good news is that the aircraft is made of wood and fabric and flies slowly which means that when it crashed is was a slow speed crash rather than something like a 747 or Airbus so the survival chances are that much higher.

There is a link here

http://www.abc.net.a...h-parts/4289656

Well, nice theory, but the problem is wood and fabric affords you zero protection on impact and breaks up. If you hit anything at 60 MPH you have less than 50% chance of survival unless you are correctly restrained in a machine designed to absorb impact. This aircraft will likely have been traveling anywhere between 90-120 kts and if it made anything other than a controlled forced landing the heap at the bottom would be very messy. There are many things could be responsible here, the weather, mechanical failure, human error etc. I do have a personal gripe with pilots flying around on their own at this age with groups of passengers in the back. It is simply not safe unless you are flying a twin pilot configuration. Sadly, no matter how healthy you may feel at 68 yrs, you are in the real danger zone of stroke or heart attack and in a machine that is reliant on the pilot less it falls out the skys, even a temporary medical problem can be catastrophic. I am not saying that is what has happened here, but more of a warning from a professional aviator that you should think twice or thrice before doing the same. The problem with crashing out in the bush is that if you survive, unlike the movies, you are generally going to be in a poor state, and maybe imobile and the onset of shock or perhaps any extremes of cold or heat will quickly accelerate the time towards your demise.

My apologies for getting it wrong.

[GentlemanJim]

The good news is that the aircraft is made of wood and fabric and flies slowly which means that when it crashed is was a slow speed crash rather than something like a 747 or Airbus so the survival chances are that much higher.

There is a link here

http://www.abc.net.a...h-parts/4289656

Well, nice theory, but the problem is wood and fabric affords you zero protection on impact and breaks up. If you hit anything at 60 MPH you have less than 50% chance of survival unless you are correctly restrained in a machine designed to absorb impact. This aircraft will likely have been traveling anywhere between 90-120 kts and if it made anything other than a controlled forced landing the heap at the bottom would be very messy. There are many things could be responsible here, the weather, mechanical failure, human error etc. I do have a personal gripe with pilots flying around on their own at this age with groups of passengers in the back. It is simply not safe unless you are flying a twin pilot configuration. Sadly, no matter how healthy you may feel at 68 yrs, you are in the real danger zone of stroke or heart attack and in a machine that is reliant on the pilot less it falls out the skys, even a temporary medical problem can be catastrophic. I am not saying that is what has happened here, but more of a warning from a professional aviator that you should think twice or thrice before doing the same. The problem with crashing out in the bush is that if you survive, unlike the movies, you are generally going to be in a poor state, and maybe imobile and the onset of shock or perhaps any extremes of cold or heat will quickly accelerate the time towards your demise.

My apologies for getting it wrong.

No snags. I wish we had both been way off the mark and these folks were back with their families.