- Routine flight from Coolangatta to Bankstown until 7:24pm. There was thick cloud from 3,000 to 5,000 feet while mountains in the area reach as high as 5,000 feet. Thirteen minutes passed between the first message of trouble and the last.
- 7:24pm
Pilot advised Sydney control he was in heavy cloud and having trouble with his artificial horizon.(This keeps the plane in level flight when he cannot see the horizon) - 7.25pm
Pilot reported that his automatic direction finder was rotating and could not make sense of it. - 7:35pm
Pilot radioed that there was severe icing on the wings and the plane was losing altitude.
(Plane had dropped 2,000 feet in 2 minutes) - 7.37pm
The pilot said he was having trouble with his standby compass and was encountering heavy turbulence. - 7:39pm
The pilots last message was short, he said (5,000)
Sydney air traffic control then lost contact with the plane.
I've been following news on this ever since going out with a girl whose parents told me about the story.
ReplyDeleteThey lived in Chichester at the foot of the Barrington Tops. I hoped one day to participate in a search but so far it's just been a dream.
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