A 68-year-old Tasmanian pilot of an as yet unidentified single-seat micro-light was killed after his machine crashed and caught fire after taking off from Balranald airport in NSW



The pilot was intending to fly to Loxton around 275km to the west in South OZ

Emergency services were altered of the aircraft's non-arrival - a crash site was located in bushland approximately 20km west of Balranald a short time later



Victorian Air Ambulance have confirmed the sole occupant was deceased

A 72-year-old helicopter pilot from Malua Bay has survived a ditching after the R44 Robbo he was flying impacted the sea about 40m off a headland between Circuit Beach and Lilli Pilli Beach on the central coast of NSW - his 70-year-old wife who was with him at the time did not survive



The accident occurred around 1800hrs local Sunday making rescue difficult in the poor light conditions - "Members of the public pulled the pilot on to the rocks and that pilot was later winched by the helicopter to the ambulance and treated for mild hypothermia"

A 55-year-old pilot undergoing microlight training with an instructor died after the aircraft they were in crashed near the Flying Teapot airstrip at Bridport in northern Tasmania



The student - who was from Quoiba near Devonport - died at the scene while the instructor was taken by ambulance to Launceston General Hospital

A 49-year-old Dubbo gyrocopter pilot has been fatally injured after the rotary-wing flying machine he was operating solo crashed and caught fire on a property at Emby Tooloon Road around 20kms west of Coonamble



Paramedics treated the pilot at the scene and then rushed him to Coonamble Hospital where he later died

A 32-year-old Perth based pilot and his passenger were able to escape virtually unscathed after the Piper PA-28R Arrow they were in had an engine failure during a night training exercise



The retractable undercarriage machine ended up on a pedestrian pathway in the Bunbury suburb of Dalyellup near Norton Promenade Road which suggests that the PA-28R was on about a 5km 'final' position to the Bunbury Airport when the noise stopped

Two new Seabird Seeker aircraft are currently under production and certification for electricity provider Ergon Energy who will use the aircraft to survey their massive electricity grid - data collected from sensors installed in the 2-seater machines will be used to build spatial and 3D models enabling the energy company to prioritise their regional asset management which should save millions of dollars in operational efficiencies compared to the current situation



Seabird Aviation commenced operations in 1983 as an ultralight aircraft manufacturer located at the Hervey Bay Airport in QLD