Rob Campbell

Since other sightings are unconfirmed & hazy, the only other reasonable info to go on is the Radar info, otherwise every one is looking for a needle in a hay stack. From original reports(read all earlier blogs) the Location of 1st Radar Ident E151 18' S32 03'. MDX got to this loc because it was 6 degree's off course from Taree, went west through ice cloud & lost it's position to turn left. After Ident MDX turned around & headed roughly 95 to 100 degree's magnetic to get to the coast so to be at a lower altitude to get the ice off & to regain orientation, but MDX went back through the ice cloud & collected more ice than the aircraft could handle & came down. From the Flight Plan & having a 30 to 40kt tail wind the ground speed matches the time it would take to go that distance from 1st radar to when MDX disappeared over Craven/Stratford. From the Pilot calling out his Altitude & the timing in the recording, I worked out MDX descending at 1600ft/min, from Craven/Stratford crash area is about 9km/5nm to the east. There are a few variables, was MDX actually at 5000ft over Craven/Stanford or bit higher or lower? The Radar said over Craven, but could have been over Stanford if going direct to Foster(lights) or in between? Was MDX in a high speed descent or a stalling lower speed descent?
Rob Campbell

Martins email

Hi Nev,
I had never heard of VH-MDX until 2 weeks ago. The 4wd club I am involved with are being asked to contribute ground support during the planned search this October. I am sad that there are 5 families without closure and 5 men that are still missing. I am also fascinated and reading
everything I can. I flew gliders in the Hunter Valley and at Lake Keepit for years and canoed the Manning and tributaries many times. I am an expert at nothing but good at a few things and if nothing else, I will continue to follow your progress (in actual fact, I will be part of that October ground support role if it kills me).

Question 1). Do you have the coordinates of the 1st radar sighting ?. (I can't derive enough accuracy from the radar chart to plot it on Google Earth)

Question 2). Was the 2nd radar sighting actually made ?. I note that it was never confirmed in the radio transcript but is noted on the radar chart.

Do we have the coordinates of that 2nd radar sighting if it is confirmed ?.

Question 3). What is the reasoning behind your search areas as depicted in the Google Earth pictures ?.

I am not out to reinvent wheels as I am an 'expert at nothing'. I just want to know for my understanding and further research before I go up there.

Best of luck to you.

Hi Martin,
Thanks for your email. There's not much i can tell you that's not already on the blog site. If you check under the post last radar position you will find the diagram to click on and enlarge to give you the last radar position as well as flight plan booked by MDX. The reason i searched around the pol blue area was due to a sighting that was made by a pilot who said he saw wreckage on a hill side at the top of the headwaters at pol blue creek. Unfortunately this was not the case.

I have now moved my search to the area of Buladehlah after reviewing some of the posts that have been sent to me and not having any new information to go on since I've exhausted my previous search area. It's a needle in a haystack as you know but half the fun is just getting out in the bush and being a part of a search. Good luck with your search as well and good on ya for getting out there and having a go.

Let me know how the search go's in October.

regards

Nev

Hi Nev,

On your VH-MDX blog, Robert Campbell reports (posted 03JUL2009) that the radio transmission is out of order (the actual audio file doesn't follow the order of the typed transcript).

I have edited the audio file and attached it. In doing so it can be seen that the first 4 minutes (page 2) is present as is the last 4 minutes (Page 4 & Page 5). The attached audio file isnow in this order.
For whatever reason the period 0928 'MDX SY Could you squark code 4000....' to 0934 '-DX Say again Maitland' are missing I.e. the bottom half of page 2, all of page 3 and the top bit of page 4. Of small consequence as the most qualified have computed the search area/s but an observation nonetheless.

Note:

I'm having trouble uploading Martins edited transmission file to the blog. If anyone would like a copy just send me an email and I'll pass it on.

Nev

Rob Campbell's search positions

Hi! Nev, These are 2 possible positions & whats in between & about 1/2 km either side is what I've worked out as a best guess to search for MDX!

Rob Campbell

Hi! Here is a larger image showing distance as approx.9 km or 5 nm from Stanford/Craven!

Rob Campbell

1st comment posted

If anyone is interested there is a comment posted to Rob Campbell's post in September's blog. Thanks for that Snowy. I thought it would take precedence for this months blog as it is a new post but it looks like a comment must stay with the post it is attached to whenever the original post was created. You learn something every day. Nev

Blog now open to your comments

To all readers of this blog. I've decided to open this blog for public comment. To access the blog use the comment button at the bottom of the post. You will need to wait one day before posting as well as verify and open a gmail account before commenting, googles rules not mine!. I must admit to being a control freak and checking all emails but not altering them in any way before posting. I'm willing to trial this open blog to comment to promote a discussion forum with quicker response times. If any of our readers have search tips, techniques or links to similar sites send them in.

regards

Nev

Reply from Nev

Thanks for the email lee, It's funny you mention the West of Forster. The emails coming in to this blog all seem to be pointing away from the Barrington Tops area to the north, possibly north east. Do any of our regular readers have any thoughts on this ?

Nev

Lee Wright

Hi Nev,

No problem. It sounds to me like there was a lot of eye witness accounts & they can't all be correct so this may be just nothing. We lived near Coomba Park on the Western side of Wallis Lake (about 8km West of Forster) back then . My mother (a pilot in her younger years), was travelling along Coomba Road when she noticed a plane flying low over the lake around that time. When she heard about the crash she felt it could have been the plane. I don't know if she reported it or not. There could be other explanations for this:

1. If it was after the crash it could have been a search plane possibly launched from the Wallis Island airport.
2. It could have been another plane from the Wallis Island airport although this would be extremely unusual at that time of night.

I wondered if it was possible for the plane to have traveled that far East but I do note that a search was conducted as far East as Buladelah.

I know Wallis Lake extremely well - I was about 13 then & a boating fanatic. I've explored just about every corner of Wallis lake. The main part of the lake is too shallow for a plane not to be noticed. The deeper estuaries (max 4 Metres) are extensively netted by fishermen & I think they would have dragged up something by now.

I do think a plane could go down in Myall Lake just to the South & not be noticed. I don't know it well but I believe it's considerably deeper. Much of the area such as the Wallingat State forest is quite unpopulated and a plane could pass over without being noticed by many. I think it would be harder for a plane to pass at low altitude over the coast without being seen. Even back then the coast was fairly populated.

Are you aware of any other reports from the Forster/Wallingat area?

Anyway, just thought I'd share what I know of the incident.

Regards,




Lee.