Light Plane Down in Southern Alps...

A place for 'real world' pilots and aviation enthusiasts to discuss their hobby

Postby pois0n » Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:36 pm

QUOTE
Mexican pilots killed in Canterbury plane crash
New 8:50PM Wednesday January 16, 2008


A small, fixed wing plane crashed in Canterbury today, killing its two occupants.

They were Mexican citizens who were in New Zealand to train with the Canterbury Aero Club.

Both held private pilot licences and one was preparing to sit part of a commercial licence test tomorrow.

The flight they were on today was a final practice run for the cross-country test where a pilot must navigate between two points.

The plane, a Piper Cherokee, had departed from Hokitika and was due to arrive at Christchurch around midday.

Shortly after 1pm it was reported missing and a search and rescue operation was launched in the area of the plane's last reported position, about 16km north west of Lake Coleridge.

Searchers called in the Westpac Trust Rescue Helicopter and three fixed wing planes.

"The plane was found by a Canterbury Aero Club fixed wing aircraft that we were using to help with the search.

He called the rescue helicopter and asked them to investigate what looked like some wreckage in a valley," said Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand's John Dickson.

"The helicopter was able to land 100m from the wreckage and a paramedic was able to establish that, regretfully, there were no survivors."

The Civil Aviation Authority will head to the site tomorrow to begin an investigation into the crash.

"We have really got no indication of what has caused it. We do know it was near perfect flying conditions, so why it crashed, we don't know," Mr Dickson said.

Southern police communications said the pilots' bodies would be recovered tomorrow.

Police are in the process of contacting their families.[/quote]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story....jectid=10487214

That sucks :(
Last edited by pois0n on Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: HCP: editing title
pois0n
 

Postby pois0n » Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:53 pm

http://stuff.co.nz/4360714a19715.html

There's a picture there, not much left :(
pois0n
 

Postby atc_unit » Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:06 pm

Really sad to see yes. The Alps and any Mountainous terrain can be un-forgiving unfortunatly in light aircraft even with perfect conditions - so many illusions and hidden rotor turbulence are everywhere and without proper mountain flying training it can sometimes lead to accidents like this. Does anyone know if CAC run a Mountian Flying course?

Oh and what sort of Cherokee was that? a 140?
Leon Gibbs
VATNZ Deputy Director
NZ CPL(A)+MEIR, B-Cat
Stewart Island Flights - IVC
Image
User avatar
atc_unit
Member
 
Joined: Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:09 pm
Posts: 34
Location: Invercargill, NZ

Postby pois0n » Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:14 pm

LJB Piper PA-28-181

According to the CAA register
pois0n
 

Postby Matty231 » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:12 pm

Oh i heard about that crash, i remember last year those 2 planes collided aswell!
_____________________________________________

Image

CaptainSim 757 Cockpit, excellent bird.

Official Matty231 Comment

These are my own official websites...
www.wazzaga.com
www.razorweb.co.nz
www.thegamehouse.co.nz
www.theentertainmenthouse.co.nz

_____________________________________________
User avatar
Matty231
Member
 
Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2008 8:50 pm
Posts: 10
Location: Pukekohe, South Auckland, NZ


Return to New Zealand Aviation

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests