Bass Strait plane missing 02/08/25

[facthunter]

Do an all stations comm check call..  Nev

[FlyBoy1960]

if you're airfield is isolated and there is nobody within line of sight an "all station"s call won't do anything ?

[facthunter]

People at altitude.   IF you are serious have someone with a handheld .Nev

Edited Friday at 05:53 AM by facthunter
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[onetrack]

Greg Vaughan had mates watching and listening for him, and associates working in a nearby hangar, so its not like any calls he made wouldn't be heard.

In a rural region, you'd arrange for a friend or associate with a radio to check your transmissions were coming through.

And if you were in such a remote spot that there's no-one within a 100 kms, then all you can hope for is an aircraft nearby at altitude that's listening.

[Love to fly]

14 minutes ago, facthunter said:

People at altitude.   IF you are serious have someone with a handheld .Nev

My comments were just in relation to doing a comns check every flight. I don't for obvious reasons.  But I do check that tx comes up when I give a taxi call. 

[skippydiesel]

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

 

In a rural region, you'd arrange for a friend or associate with a radio to check your transmissions were coming through.

And if you were in such a remote spot that there's no-one within a 100 kms, then all you can hope for is an aircraft nearby at altitude that's listening.

While I agree your radio check advice is what we should all aspire to, it seems to me that you have gone too far in not recognising the realities of operating from small country strips.

I always make taxi, lineup, rolling , departure (leg) calls etc. Only "once in a blue moon" do I get any sort of response/acknowledgement, and this is from within the Sydney Basin.

Technically this is not a radio check, however I also know that most often there is no one on my CTAF to respond, no one on the airfield at all.

I do monitor Area Frequency, so know that I am receiving but have no guarantee that my transmission are being heard, until airborne, when I may (on rare occasions) be able to raise someone at a neighbouring field, on the same CTAF.

This is also the situaton, when on a trip, to many more remote airfields, that is unless there is a Club meeting/RPT/Student training/etc. 😈

[Thruster88]

A type of radio failure that has happened in our ctaf is pilot headset plugged into the copilot Jack's, radio appears to work but no voice is transmitted. This was two different aircraft with all the Jack's between and or partly behind the seats.

[pmccarthy]

I have done that in a Bristell. The sockets are together. We had no comms, thought the radio was u/s.

[Garfly]

No news here ... just a basic recap:

 

 

Edited Saturday at 07:46 AM by Garfly

[onetrack]

It really is quite amazing that no wreckage of any kind has shown up in more than a week after they took off, along with the intensity of the search. That seems to indicate the aircraft stayed pretty intact upon arrival into the water.

[turboplanner]

On 09/08/2025 at 7:11 PM, onetrack said:

It really is quite amazing that no wreckage of any kind has shown up in more than a week after they took off, along with the intensity of the search. That seems to indicate the aircraft stayed pretty intact upon arrival into the water.

or that it went down over bush, or that. Also, on a "search for a drink bottle/seat cushion or other floating item", Bass Strait is vast, but based on the pilot's odd "Straight Through" there are two lost of islands they could eventuall be washed up on and someone might eventually happen to walk there. Historically in the Bass Strait ditchings nothing is found more often than something is found.

[Love to fly]

1 hour ago, turboplanner said:

or that it went down over bush, or that. Also, on a "search for a drink bottle/seat cushion or other floating item", Bass Strait is vast, but based on the pilot's odd "Straight Through" there are two lost of islands they could eventuall be washed up on and someone might eventually happen to walk there. Historically in the Bass Strait ditchings nothing is found more often than something is found.

Seriously, particularly if he was planning to fly high, there is nothing odd about a straight track across Bass Strait.   Not recommended, but not illegal or uncommon. 

[turboplanner]

3 hours ago, Love to fly said:

Seriously, particularly if he was planning to fly high, there is nothing odd about a straight track across Bass Strait.   Not recommended, but not illegal or uncommon. 

People who have never had an engine failure usually never plan for one, and you read in the newspapers they were killed by a "freak" event/breakage/failure that had never happened before; if we are talking about home builts, a lot of things can fail, so just for interest, if we decided the glide area between Georgetown in the south and Leongatha in the north (for the exercise we'll forget about the nearest landable surfaces and we pick the midway point where we stop doing a 180 turn to bo back and start opting to land straight ahead), in your aircraft what altitude would you need to be flying?

 

The next question would be what would be the expected cloud ceiling for the flight.

 

I don't know how many people know the glideslope for the aircrtaft they are flying but I'd huess less than 100%.

 

The reason for the recommended routes are that for most flights based on the weather forecast you will be able to plop on to solid ground from a relatively low altitude if an emergency occurs.

 

Not illegal

Not it's not; we left the era where an authority would "outlaw" something and people would claim millions for their lost parent because the rules missed a minor point.

 

Today you have the duty of care for the safety of anyone you carry or hit etc. so you decided, and history tells us that if you don't want to lose the farm, you better be relying on a legally sustantive point.

 

Not recommended

This allows authorities to point out the danger, and since you have the Duty of Care you need to find something to ptotect yourself. Industry Safety Standards are a good place to start looking, and following Industry recommendations is a very good idea. 

 

Not uncommon

One of the most common Bass Strait  crossers was an overnight freight Bristol Freighter. One night the engine failed and the pilot went down, never to be found.

So sure people have made multiple crossings, one guy has even paddled a surfboard across, but again, you are the one that owes a duty of care; it's your pocket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[facthunter]

For a Single engine plane to NOT go via the ISLANDS should be rare. You can have assured glide to an island most of the way unless the Plane is unusually draggy.. Nev

[onetrack]

I understand it was a factory built aircraft, as all Bristells are. Plus, it was almost new. One would expect the machines reliability to be pretty foolproof.

[turboplanner]

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

I understand it was a factory built aircraft, as all Bristells are. Plus, it was almost new. One would expect the machines reliability to be pretty foolproof.

You should have a look at some new products going through dealer delivery; plenty of opportunities in a system which is not operating on the same reliability level as GA. We wanted the aircrtaft cheap so we could afford them; they haven't been through the same build procedure or processing procedure etc.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Like many models these days, the Bristell can be registered GA or RAAus. It is the identically same plane, with the same high build standards and equipment.

[rgmwa]

You can (or perhaps could?) get them as a kit although it's mainly assembling big pieces compared to traditional kits. I know someone who built one with retractable gear and variable pitch prop a few years ago. 

[Love to fly]

32 minutes ago, rgmwa said:

You can (or perhaps could?) get them as a kit although it's mainly assembling big pieces compared to traditional kits. I know someone who built one with retractable gear and variable pitch prop a few years ago. 

Interesting. I've never known them to be sold as kits. They have several models. Retractable, turboprop and other options. Also with/without ballistic chutes. 

[turboplanner]

11 hours ago, pmccarthy said:

Like many models these days, the Bristell can be registered GA or RAAus. It is the identically same plane, with the same high build standards and equipment.

Just did a search and found 11 on the VH Register - all listed as Bristell S-LSA.

 

The missing aircraft 23 2180 is also claimed to be  a Bristell S-LSA but is not shoing in the RAA Register as of today.

[ClintonB]

On 08/08/2025 at 8:02 PM, pmccarthy said:

I have done that in a Bristell. The sockets are together. We had no comms, thought the radio was u/s.

I did it in a sportstar once, sounded distant and tower could only hear me from other headset mike. ok once i worked out what happened.  they are behind the seats also.

[facthunter]

Watch out for Murphy's Law.  Nev