ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 34335
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| Date: | Monday 29 September 2008 |
| Time: | 14:40 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-36-375 Pawnee Brave |
| Owner/operator: | AAA Sprays Pty Ltd |
| Registration: | VH-FXE |
| MSN: | 36-7902011 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Upper Pilton, 50 km S of Toowoomba, QLD -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Agricultural |
| Departure airport: | Clifton, Queensland |
| Pilton Valley, Queensland | |
| Investigating agency: | ATSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
At about 14:40 Eastern Standard Time on 29 September 2008, the pilot of a Piper Aircraft PA-36-375 Pawnee Brave, registered VH-FXE, was conducting aerial baiting operations in the Pilton Valley, Queensland, when the aircraft collided with terrain. The aircraft was seriously damaged by impact forces and a post-impact, fuel and magnesium-fed fire. The pilot was fatally injured.
The pilot had flown the aircraft for about 3 hours that day, conducting baiting operations at a number of properties in the region. The ATSB investigation found that the topography of the area in which the pilot was operating, and the strong gusty wind conditions at the time, probably resulted in turbulence that increased the hazardous nature of the low-level application task.
At the time, the region was experiencing a mouse plague that was damaging crops and the local landowners were keen to have the bait applied as soon as possible. On the day of the accident, the
pilot had planned to spread the bait over 10 properties with a combined total area of 760 hectares
It is likely that the pilot - named in contemporary press reports as Greg Cochran - lost control of the aircraft as a result of that turbulence, at a height from which recovery was not possible before the aircraft struck the ground.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2008/aair/ao-2008-069.aspx
2. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/29/2377171.htm?site=local
3. https://www.theage.com.au/national/cropduster-crash-kills-pilot-20080929-4qas.html
4. https://www.smh.com.au/news/national/crop-duster-pilot-killed-in-crash/2008/09/29/1222650974210.html
5. https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/cropduster-pilot-dies-crash-near-toowoomba/47905/ [includes photo of the wreckage]
6. https://www.warwickdailynews.com.au/news/apn-report-into-pilots-death-revealed-in-the-new/124136/
7. http://www.atsb.gov.au/media/1519928/ao2008069.pdf
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 28 May 1989 | VH-FGF | 0 | Pine Hills, NSW | |
sub |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 29-Sep-2008 05:22 | Geo | Added |
| 30-Sep-2008 00:09 | RobertMB | Updated |
| 11-Oct-2009 21:00 | Anon. | Updated |
| 28-Apr-2014 02:32 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 28-Apr-2014 02:33 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 13-Jan-2018 18:19 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Narrative] |
| 08-Jun-2022 08:54 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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