February 8 
A light aircraft - reported as a low-wing single-engine Piper - on a flight from Wallan near Melbourne to Wangaratta in northern Victoria crashed into Lake Eildon around mid-day yesterday after it struck powerlines strung across the lake

"Witnesses said the plane was flying low and clipped powerlines before plunging into the south side of the lake near Jerusalem Creek"


The four on board - including the pilot and a young female passenger - did not survive

February 12 
A military Black Hawk helicopter on a training exercise from nearby Amberley air base has crashed in the Mount Walker area about 30 nm south west of Archerfield at around 1100hrs to-day

A civilian helicopter rescue team has taken one person out and the other 7 who were on board received numerous injuries - none life threatening



Black Hawks have trained at Archerfield - one episode was recorded back in November 1998 - click HERE for record

Archerfield 1998

February 11 
An Iranian Kish Airline Fokker 50 twin-engine turbo-prop aircraft with 45 passengers and crew on board crashed while on approach to Sharjah airport in the Gulf state of the United Arab Emirates

"The plane crashed in an open area about 3 kilometres from the airport and about 200 meters from the nearest homes"

Kish has the reputation of the most visited city in the Middle East after Dubai - a place where anyone can be admitted with no questions asked and with no visa formalities

February 10 
Another helicopter on a training flight with an instructor and student on board has crashed into mangroves at the northern tip of Bribie Island north-east of Archerfield

The almost new helicopter - a two-seat Robinson R22 owned by the Chopperline flying school - was operating from nearby Caloundra

The two on board were injured - one has back injuries and the other with leg injuries - with both transported to nearby hospitals by rescue choppers

News Desk Communiquè
For those of you who have signed up for the News Flash and are concerned about the lack of activity - as in there has been no recent Issues - then the following may be of interest

The AirCentre News Flash has not been issued for more than 9 months - May 31 2003 to be precise - and under the current climate of high spam e-mail activity the situation is not expected to alter for some time

If a situation develops where there is need for an urgent notice to be sent then that will happen - but the News Desk projection is that it will remain this way for some time to come

February 8 
A single engine Cessna - reported as a turbine powered C208 float-plane with only the pilot and 1 passenger on board - has crashed into the water while attempting to land at Green Island off Cairns around 1630hrs

Media reports have the engine failing in the float-plane causing the aircraft to crash into the water

The pilot and passenger were able to exit the damaged aircraft successfully and were unhurt