The Ted Smith Aerostar 601 aircraft, registered VH-WRF, departed
Coolangatta at 1301 ESuT with a flight instructor and a commercial
pilot on board. The aircraft was being operated on a dual training
flight in the Byron Bay area, approximately 55 km south-south-east
of Coolangatta. The aircraft was operating outside controlled
airspace and was not being monitored by air traffic control. The
weather in the area was fine with a south-easterly wind at 10 - 12
kts, with scattered cloud in the area with a base of between 2,000
and 2,500 ft.
The purpose of the flight was to introduce the commercial pilot,
who was undertaking initial multi-engine training, to asymmetric
flight. At approximately 1445, the operator advised Australian
Search and Rescue that the aircraft had not returned to
Coolangatta, and that it was overdue. Recorded radar information by
Airservices Australia revealed that the aircraft had disappeared
from radar coverage at 1335. Its position at that time was
approximately 18 km east-south-east of Cape Byron. Search vessels
later recovered items that were identified as being from the
aircraft in the vicinity of the last recorded position of the
aircraft. Those items included aircraft checklist pages, a blanket,
a seat cushion from the cabin, as well as a number of small pieces
of cabin insulation material. No item showed any evidence of heat
or fire damage. No further trace of the aircraft was found.
Air traffic control received normal radio transmissions from the
aircraft during the departure from Coolangatta and the transit to
the operating area. No other transmissions from the aircraft were
received. In particular, there were no radio transmissions from the
aircraft around 1335.
The instructor was the chief flying instructor of the
organisation that owned the aircraft. He held a Grade 1 flight
instructor rating. He had extensive civilian and military
experience as a pilot and flight instructor, most of which was on
single-engine fixed and rotary wing aircraft. At the time of the
accident, his total flying experience was 7127.2 hours, with 447.7
hours on multi-engine aircraft. The instructor had accrued 294
hours on Aerostar aircraft of which 194 were as a flying
instructor.
The student pilot held a commercial pilot's license and had
about 283 hours flying experience at the time of the accident. He
commenced flying training on 23 April 2001 on a Mooney M20J
aircraft, and first flew solo on 23 July 2001, after 38.3 hours
dual instruction. On 21 December 2002, he gained an unrestricted
private pilot's license, having flown a total of 181.1 hours. On 19
September 2003, with a total flying experience of 257 hours, the
student pilot failed his first commercial pilots license test. On
17 October 2003, he passed the second attempt with a total flight
time of 276.9 hours. Excluding the accident flight, the commercial
pilot's flight time on Aerostar aircraft was 3.5 hours.
The accident flight was the commercial pilot's fourth in the
Aerostar aircraft, and was the third flying exercise sequence in
the operator's multi-engine training syllabus. The objectives of
the exercise included controlling the aircraft after the failure of
an engine, recovering from a stall in the takeoff configuration,
and entering and recovering from a minimum control speed (Vmca)
situation. (Vmca is the minimum control speed in flight with one
engine inoperative.)
Recorded radar data for the flight showed that the aircraft
proceeded from Coolangatta to the east of Byron Bay where it
conducted a series of manoeuvres in an area approximately 18 km
square, at between 2,500 and 3,000 ft, with occasional brief
excursions below 2,500 ft. Between 1313:00 and 1328:00 ESuT, there
were three instances, about 4 minutes apart, where the recorded
groundspeed of the aircraft decreased rapidly from approximately
150 kts to between 100 and 110 kts before increasing again. Each
speed reduction was accompanied by an altitude loss of 200 - 400
ft. Between 1328:40 and 1329:05, the groundspeed decreased from 140
to 118 kts. It then fluctuated between 121 and 112 kts for the next
1 minute and 25 seconds while the recorded altitude reduced from
2,600 to about 1,900 ft. The recorded altitude and ground speed
then steadily increased for the next 3 minutes to a maximum of
2,800 ft and 123 kts respectively. During the next 60 seconds, the
recorded altitude reduced to 2,500 ft while the groundspeed
decreased to 110 kts at 1335:00. At 1335:29, the recorded altitude
was 2,600 ft and the groundspeed 108 kts. The last valid radar data
was at 1335:37 when the recorded altitude was 2,100 ft, and the
groundspeed was 100 kts. The aircraft was tracking in a
south-easterly direction from about 1331 until radar contact was
lost. There were no sudden or significant changes in the recorded
track during that period.
The aircraft was being operated on a valid maintenance release
and there were no maintenance items outstanding at the time of the
accident. The aircraft was flown from Coolangatta to Sydney and
return on the night before the accident and was reported to have
operated normally during those flights. The aircraft was not fitted
with a stall warning system.
