March 31  2006
A home-built Lancair aircraft on approach to Archerfield airport during a passing storm finished up impacting trees on a vacant allotment near the QE11 VFR inbound reporting point - media reports have the pilot (who did not survive) as "sacrificed his own life by crashing his homemade kit plane into bushland rather than land on a busy Brisbane arterial road ...five people attempted to rescue the pilot"

The 56 year-old recreational pilot of 3 years was enroute from his Townsville home base to Archerfield - a storm passed through the area around the same time - 1100hrs - which would have reduced visibility on approach to AF to below VFR minimum
 

News Desk Comment

Lancairs are popular with home-builders utilising fibreglass as the main construction component - there are around 50 on the OZ register

March 29  2006
The local Country Fire Authority were called to the crash site of the 2-seat RotorWay home-built helicopter that had burst into flames after crashing upside down in a paddock at Tawonga South 350km north-east of Melbourne

 
The father of the 30+ year-old pilot - a member of the Fire Authority - was first on the scene and "...tried in vain to pull his son from the burning wreckage"

March 27  2006
Local Morundah aerial-spraying contractor Ron Younger lost his life when his aircraft impacted the ground after it struck power-lines during a spray run in an open paddock in southern NSW

 
The pilot who was aged in his 40's ..."used to be a shearer and had travelled the world before getting his pilot's licence ...he had flown planes in Queensland as well as New South Wales"