iscover
The pilot of VH-BAQ sustained minor injuries, and a passenger severe injuries, when the light plane crashed on approach to a grass airstrip at a property near Noosa on 12 November.
VH-RSB hit the ground and caught fire after flying into a power line near Merriton on 8 October, killing both the pilot and the single passenger on board and injuring rescuers. In its final report, the ATSB said the power line was in the way of aircraft landing on the property’s grass runway.
Emergency services found a man’s body in Preston at around 7:30am on Monday, 18 March, after he fell from the basket of a balloon which subsequently landed safely in nearby Yarra Bend Park. Australian Aviation has not been able to confirm the operator of the balloon.
In its report into the incident last October, the safety watchdog found the pilot of VH-JUA had incorrectly set flaps to 40 degrees instead of 20 degrees, as recommended in the plane’s manual for a go-around and said the incident highlights the importance of correctly following checklists.
In its final report into the incident, the transport safety watchdog noted that neither the pilot of the Extra, VH-IOG, nor the Magni M16C Tandem Trainer gyroplane, G1850, heard each other’s broadcasts or saw the other aircraft until they were about 20 metres from colliding.
Two of the incidents, as reported by the Herald Sun, took place in October, and one in January. In at least two cases, oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling at around 11,000 feet as the fixed-wing planes were ascending, due to improper setting of compression instruments before take-off.
