Barwon Heads plane crash pilot had no authority to fly through cloud

UPDATE: WRECKAGE of a plane that crashed at Barwon Heads has been pulled from the water, as it’s revealed the pilot did not have authority to fly through cloud on the day.

Search and Rescue divers and Water Police have brought the fuselage of the plane that crashed in Barwon Heads on 29 January to the surface. The engine block, propeller and part of the fuselage were found on the seabed, at a depth of 33 metres, about 4kms off shore between Point Lonsdale and Barwon Heads late yesterday afternoon. The recoverd remains of the plane arrive at Holden Dock in Yarraville to be transported to Williamstown Water Police station. Picture: Sarah Matray

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WRECKAGE of a plane that crashed at Barwon heads has been pulled from the water, as questions are raised about the craft’s flight through cloud.

The pilot of the Piper Cherokee did not have authority to fly through cloud on the day of the crash, a Sunday Herald Sun investigation can reveal, as tributes flow for the four people killed.

The crash, which claimed the lives of Ian Chamberlain and his partner, Dianne Bradley, along with Don Hateley and Daniel Flinn, is the subject of an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) probe.

Any flights where pilots rely on instruments must be recorded with Air Services Australia (ASA), based at Melbourne Airport. But ASA confirmed it did not receive a planned flight path from the aircraft, which departed Moorabbin Airport at midday on January 29.

It crashed into the sea 30 minutes later.

An ASA spokesman said there was no record of the doomed flight.

“If you want to fly through cloud on instruments it needs to be marked under instrument flight rules,” he said. “There was no air traffic control involvement with that flight.”

The engine block, propeller and part of the fuselage were found on the seabed, at a depth of 33 metres, about 4kms off shore between Point Lonsdale and Barwon Heads late yesterday afternoon. Picture: Sarah Matray

Mr Chamberlain, owner of the crashed plane, was a member of Tyabb Airport’s aero club, having joined in 2013.

Club president Peter Bernardi described it as “terrible” weather at the time of the crash. Mr Chamberlain had flown the aircraft from Tyabb to Moorabbin the day before.

In a tribute in the Herald Sun on Saturday, the family of Mr Chamberlain, who would have been 66 this month, and Ms Bradley, 63, said they both would be “forever in our hearts”.

“Both together, always flying high,” they wrote. “We are all shocked and saddened at the tragic loss,” another tribute read.

The plane before the crash.

Flowers and photographs laid at the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse. Picture: Alex Coppel

Water police are today expected to pull the wreckage from the sea floor, 4km off Ocean Grove, and were hoping to find the missing body of one of the victims inside. The group, who had flown together many times, were travelling to King Island.

The Bureau of Meteorology revealed there was low cloud in Ocean Grove on the day.

Ted Williams, weather services manager for Victoria, said: “There were showers around the Ocean Grove area on January 29, and low cloud was expected with them.”

ATSB spokesman Marc Kelaart said: “As with any investigation, we look at a range of factors that could have contributed to an accident. This includes weather conditions, pilot experience and rating, and whether the aircraft experienced mechanical issues.

“The ATSB team has been interviewing witnesses, reviewing meteorological conditions and gathering aircraft and pilot documentation.”

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