A helicopter pilot has died after the rotary-wing machine he was flying crashed on a remote but prominent Northern Territory cattle station


The chopper ended-up near the Mountain Valley Station homestead about 150km east of Katherine near Arnhem Land

A 56-year-old pilot from north Fitzroy in Victoria was lucky to escape with only minor injuries after the home-built aircraft he was in had an engine problem that forced an emergency landing in "tiger-country"


The landing was in a heavily wooded area near Lancefield north of Melbourne - it required the services an air ambulance helicopter to winch him to safety

Flight Training Australia has closed it's doors for a few days for an "internal restructure" and is expected to re-open again Monday


Taken over by the AV8 group after the death of Humphrey Maltman in June 2008 FTA was originally Fyfe's Flying School (Al Fyfe x-RAN) back in the 70's and prior to that it was the Cessna Dealer (Rex's) flying school of the 60's trading as Queensland Flying Services (QFS)


Recently there was an auction of FTA's surplus aircraft at Archerfield - click to view that report