Desperate search for plane missing from radar off Coffs Harbour
A search has been launched for a plane believed to have two people on board that disappeared from the radar west of Coffs Harbour this morning.
NSW
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A father and son are believed to be missing in a plane that disappeared from the radar west of Coffs Harbour this morning.
A search launched for the plane is being hampered by thick low cloud making visibility almost impossible from the air while the weather has also precluded a ground search.
The propeller-driven Mooney M20 four-seater plane left a small air strip near Murwillumbah in north eastern NSW at 6.30am headed for Taree, on the mid north coast. It failed to arrive at 8am.
The owner of the plane is a north coast businessman who bought it in July from a Perth pilot. The man is a pilot himself but he is not “instrument rated” so he cannot fly in bad weather.
One of his employees is a fully-qualified pilot and was going to fly the plane for him.
It is not known if either of the men were on board but a source said there were two people on the plane and they were believed to be a father and son.
A Westpac rescue helicopter and a an Australian Maritime Safety Authority jet, Rescue 660, are searching an area 27 kms west of Coffs Harbour based on the last signal from the plane’s transponder.
The Mooney M20 is similar to a Piper Cherokee and regarded as a workhorse of the skies.
“The weather is extremely bad. The clouds are right down to the ground and it’s very difficult to see anything,” a spokesman for AMSA said this evening.
Online tracking shows the plane arrived in Murwillumbah on September 10 from Lismore.
“I hope the new owner is OK,” the former owner said from Perth this evening.
“The aircraft is registered to fly in bad weather.”