A Chinese student pilot on a solo flight in West OZ returning to land at Jandakot Airport carried out a crash-landing when the aircraft’s propeller struck the tarmac causing damage to the propeller and under-carriage

The 21-year-old student was undergoing flight training with China Southern West Australian Flying College and was in a 2-seat Grob basic trainer

A search is underway to locate the pilot of a microlight that was found by a fisherman on Little Goat Island near Bribie Island

The pilot apparently walked across mudflats to the mainland - water police tracked footprints to nearby Donnybrook but were unable to locate the person concerned

Dick Smith has gone public and has urged the Federal Government to warn pilots that a GPS unit used in a fatal crash near Benalla in Victoria in 2004 can default to the "dead reckoning" or simulator mode if there is a problem with the aerial

News Desk Comment

This situation could occur if the GPS unit was not fully 'pushed-in' in the dash panel

On board the fatal flight were RAAF helicopter pilot Alan Stark and Qantas jumbo jet pilot Geoff Brockie with the highly experienced general aviation pilot Kerry Endicott at the controls - any GPS warnings would not have gone unnoticed by the 3 highly qualified pilots on board - the authorities believe GPS warnings were ignored and that may have contributed to the accident

The nose landing gear collapsed on training Cessna C152 during landing after the pilot - who was carrying out 'circuits-and-bumps' at the time - had difficulty with the conditions and apparently 'bounced' on landing

CASA have reported that the aircraft was owned by a flying school at Bankstown and was on a 'solo' training exercise at the time

The male pilot was uninjured