VH-NGA ditches in Tasman

[ardypilot]

From MRC Aviation:

Australian based medical evacuation Westwind VH-NGA made a controlled landing onto the waters off Norfolk Island in the early hours of Thu 19 November. In a press release from the aircraft's operator, Careflight Pel-Air, states in this abridged version:
A CareFlight medical evacuation flight operated by Pel-Air Aviation from Apia to Melbourne was scheduled to land at Norfolk Island for a planned fuel stop on Wednesday evening when it encountered deteriorating weather conditions.

After several unsuccessful approaches and with diminishing fuel, the pilot-in-command, Captain Dominic James, made the decision to carry out a controlled landing onto the water off the coast of Norfolk Island.

The aircraft, a specially-equipped medical retrieval Westwind jet carried out a successful landing on the water and the patient, accompanying spouse and two medical crew as well as the pilots evacuated safely. They were rescued by boat and brought to the local Norfolk Island hospital for observation. The Captain reported that all passengers and crew did not have any apparent injuries.

John Sharp, Chairman of Pel-Air Avaition said that he was very proud of the Captain and the First Officer. "They performed an intricate landing on water in darkness resulting in the evacuation of everyone safely and quickly. The training of both the Pel-Air and Careflight crew came to the fore as everyone kept together and remained calm. Their professionalism stood out on the day and made a substantial difference to the outcome".

"I also want to thank the rescue team and the local authorities for their prompt action and dedication which resulted in a speedy rescue and evacuation to the hospital".

End.

Westwind VH-NGA has been a regular sight in NZ for many years carrying out a range of tasks from military liasion flights to organ retreivals.

[FlyingKiwi]

Sounds like a good outcome under the circumstances.

[jastheace]

it has been intresting watching this in the media here, running out of fuel has got me asking some questions, how did this happen to start off with, there should have been more than enough fuel on board to divert to say nz or noumea, it sounds like the crew did very well to get the bird down, but it still begs the question how did it come to this, just my thoughts on this, would be intrested to see what other people think, i know that we do not know all the information about this, but from what i have been able to glen by some basic reseach it makes me wonder

Jason

[jastheace]

http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/invest...o-2009-072.aspx

prelim report has been released, makes for intresting reading

[Ian Warren]

It had ditched 3 so km's from Norfolk Is , I like the part ..... Damage to Aircraft - Serious what they are going to fish it out and refly it ! would have thought write-off or destroyed be more appropriate .

[FlyingKiwi]

I think they only put "destroyed" if it has been totally obliterated, because I've noticed in the past they often put "serious" rather than "written-off" even when it's obvious that there isn't any chance of the aircraft being repaired. Seems to make the definition of "write off" slightly redundant though.