Chilling audio has captured the final words from a pilot of a light aircraft that crashed near Canberra and the desperate attempts of air traffic controllers to reach him.
The four-seat Cirrus SR22 took off from Canberra Airport at 2.40pm heading for Armidale in regional New South Wales and crashed just 10 minutes later.
Emergency services rushed to a paddock near Lake George in the NSW Tablelands, killing the 65-year-old pilot and his three grandchildren – an 11-year-old boy and two girls aged nine and six.
There were no survivors.
Now, a recording of radio communications between the plane and air traffic controllers, has been published by the Daily Mail.
In it, Canberra Airport’s tower can be heard giving the aircraft, registered as VH-MSF, clearance for takeoff. A few minutes later, it’s heard to be “four miles east of Canberra” and directed to “‘resume navigation and track direct to Cullen”.
The pilot responds: “Right, Cullen, Mike Sierra Foxtrot.”
It marks the final transmission from the pilot. As the plane reached 9000 feet, its forward speed was lost, and it plunged to the ground.
By 2.50pm, it has disappeared from radar and a controller attempted to make repeated contact for the next 10 minutes, to no avail.
“‘Mike Sierra Foxtrot, this is Canberra Approach,” the controller said multiple times.
As the reality of the situation becomes clear, aircraft landing and taking off from Canberra Airport are alerted, told: “There is some problem with a light aircraft. We will let you know.”
Emergency services were alerted at 2.57pm.
“Attention all stations,” a controller can be heard saying. “Be advised a flight has just dropped off radar so there may be some delays at the moment until we can get some further instructions.”
A local near the crash site in Gundaroo, some 35km from the airport, called authorities after seeing smoke. They were at the scene at about 3pm.
Police Superintendent Cath Bradbury told reporters the Royal Fire Service quickly extinguished the blaze.
“Unfortunately, there are no survivors,” Superintendent Bradbury said.
“We ask that anyone else in this area who might have seen the plane just prior to the collision, whether it was incurring any trouble or what they saw afterwards, to contact police.”
According to a report in The Courier-Mail, the pilot was from Bunya in Queensland and is said to have hundreds of hours of flying experience.
His grandchildren were from NSW, the newspaper reported.
The 21-year-old plane was registered to Up N Up Aviation, owned by Mike Cahill, the president of Redcliffe Aero Club in Brisbane.
In a statement, NSW Police said the victims are yet to be formally identified.
“A report will be prepared for the information of the coroner,” it said.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau was notified and expected to attend the scene to begin its own investigation.
The agency’s chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said a team will examine a range of factors, “including site mapping, wreckage examination, and recovery of aircraft components for further examination at the ATSB‘s technical facilities in Canberra”.
“Investigators will also seek to interview any witnesses and involved parties, and collect relevant recorded information including flight tracking data, as well as pilot and aircraft maintenance records, and weather information.”