Beaver Down In Australia 31/12/2017

Or a passenger, or some piece of gear, interfering with the controls.

Or a failure of control linkages.

He had passengers in a high winged aircraft on a sight seeing flight, he was very experienced and therefore confident. I have been with passengers in a similiar situation when they ask for acloser look at something on the water or ground near the flight path but not visible to all the passengers. Being an obliging pilot the request is met with a quick turn to get the viewpoint. Sometimes the aircraft is not configured in the way that it usually is , for example flap settings, trim settings resulting in an unexpected loss of lift in the tight turn. At 500 feet there is not much time for correction. My own preference is to make a gentle turn back around 1,000 feet and then plan a return to the point of interest.

This report highlights abscence of stall warning device in the Beaver http://www.bst-tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/aviation/2001/a01p0194/a01p0194.asp

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pilot-sydney-seaplane-crash-went-11943712

‘Inexplicable’ turn before crash.

Ah, did not see that.
Description is not that detailed (was it a 90* turn which is routine, or 180*? Where the wings pointed straight up and down, or a shallow angle?), but may be a chance it was pilot error then.

Eyewitness Australia crash 2017 :Myles Baptiste told the Nine Network he saw the plane flying towards him about 500 metres away when it hit the water.

“It made a tight right-hand turn and as it actually turned around, the wings dipped and it nosedived straight into the water,” he said.

Canada crash 2015 :http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/tadoussac-crash-warning-system-1.4278711

Read about this tragedy. Airline flies Cessna 208’s and Beaver’s, figured it was a beaver (did not say in initial report).

Condolences.

Propstrike:
“Terrible news.

An entire family living not far from me were all lost in 2015 in a stall / spin Beaver floatplane accident.”

I highly doubt it. Pilot was extremely experienced.
Witnesses said it was a sudden change in attitude, nose down.

It’s an aircraft that begs to be put back in to production. I agree, I seriously doubt there is any link to an accident two decades ago.

A colleague has a link to one of those who died. 🙁

Not many Beavers were operated in the USA as crop sprayers, they were always more valuable as bush planes and (in the old days), modified Stearmans and the like could do the job better and at less cost.

There isn’t anything sinister about aircraft being rebuilt. If you go to the Beaver Tails website, many aircraft have been rebuilt following mishaps.
Such is their value, it takes a lot to totally write one off. They’re not typical GA aircraft, not “disposable” and replaced or wfu when damaged.

ATSB report here:

https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/24988/ASOR199603735.pdf

Moggy

No need to be puzzled, the accident occurred in Australia. You are correct the aircraft has always operated in Australia. The DM information is incorrect. As Bruce has said many Beavers and Otters are rebuilt and re-engined. After one of these rebuilds, the aircraft is “as new”, often with a new engine. Accident rates in agricultural aviation are higher than in many other forms of GA flying. Most spreading work is conducted close to the ground with not much room for error.

I realise post accident speculation is frowned on by some in these parts but I don’t feel it is controversial to say I will be amazed if any linkage is found between the two fatal accidents that have occurred to this aircraft. Same aircraft ( totally rebuilt ) in Australia, just coincidence. Vastly different circumstances, twenty years apart..

The article refered to indicates the previous accident was in New South Wales, Australia – not the USA.

Now I am puzzled – I was under the impression that the aircraft had always been in Australia, so how did it manage to have an accident in the USA?

Its pretty common to rebuild wrecked Beavers and Otters, as there isn’t a lot to replace them for the job they do. The term ‘Destroyed’ covers a multitude of sins, and can be applied to quite a number of other aircraft too, including warbirds.

Not only according to the Daily Mail, it was just on the BBC a few minutes ago.

According to the Daily Fail, the aircraft has previously been involved in another fatal accident in 1996 when being used as a crop duster in the USA. It was allegedly ‘destroyed’ but subsequently rebuilt. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5232143/Seaplane-Sydney-crash-destroyed-previously.html

The beaver was raised today
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-04/plane-that-crashed-into-hawkesbury-river-recovered/9304360

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42531669

Very sad. From eyewitness reports here it is sounding much like the Mallard crash in Perth last year. CASA have to produce a preliminary report within a month and a full one at some point in the future, so it will probably be a while.

Steve

Another Beaver floatplane crashed in Fiji 6 just days ago. 6 rescued after it sank attempting to tale-off.

http://fijisun.com.fj/2017/12/25/seaplane-sinks-during-take-off-attempt/