Westwind ditches at Norfolk Island
A CareFlight medical evacuation aircraft operated by Pel-Air Aviation ditched in darkness close to Norfolk Island last night without apparent injury to crew or occupants.
The purpose-equipped medical retrieval Westwind twinjet, carrying a sick passenger from Apia (Samoa) to Melbourne had made several approaches to land at the Island for fuel before the diminishing fuel and deteriorating weather forced Captain Dominic James to ditch in a controlled landing onto the water.
The two pilots and the patient, accompanying spouse and two medical staff evacuated safely, using inflatable life vests They were rescued by boat and brought to the local Norfolk Island hospital for observation. The Captain reported that no passengers or crew appeared to be injured.
The aircraft was ditched at about 9.30pm local time according to a local witness: “The weather was pretty crappy with rain and fog down to the ground. I think he made three missed approaches almost down to the ground and didn’t have enough fuel to go anywhere.” The witness also understood the aircraft was “about an hour behind schedule,” suggesting that headwinds may have eaten into the flight’s fuel reserves.
The nearest all-weather night alternates to Norfolk Island are Tontouta (Noumea), Brisbane, and Kaitaia (NZ), each beyond the range of a light jet in that situation.
John Sharp, Chairman of Pel-Air Aviation said that he was very proud of the Captain and the First Officer. “They performed an intricate landing on water in darkness resulting in the evacuation of everyone safely and quickly. The training of both the Pel-Air and CareFlight crew came to the fore as everyone kept together and remained calm. Their professionalism stood out on the day and made a substantial difference to the outcome.”
“I also want to thank the rescue team and the local authorities for their prompt action and dedication which resulted in a speedy rescue and evacuation to the hospital.”
CareFlight Chief Executive Officer, Derek Colenbrander, said the successful outcome was testimony to the skill and training of the pilots, the prompt action of local authorities and the efforts of the medical team in continuing to care for their patient.
Arrangements are being made for the patient to be repatriated to Australia.
The chances are this accident would not have happened in USA territory.
If an LPV approach had been available to the crew of the Westwind and the aircraft were so equipped they would have been able to make an autopilot coupled precision approach to 50 feet and land normally. For sure not legal but who cares if ditching is the alternative?
LPV approaches have been available for years in the USA where WAAS based satellite augmentation is routinely available. Even a late model Cessna 172SP can fly an autopilot coupled LPV ‘glideslope’ approach to a 200 ft Minimum Descent Altitude without reference to navaids of any kind. In the USA there are 1,884 LPV runway approaches plus an additional 1,919 VNAV/LNAV approaches (MDA as low as 280 feet) available as of now.
In Australia there have been investigations running by the Regulator and Airservices for years to try and “decide” on the best system for dear old Australia. They have “considered” the industry standard of WAAS (which almost every new aircraft is now fitted) but seem by all accounts unlikely to recommend it.
Why? Even though Australia and its territories would benefit from hundreds of LPV precision approaches (including Lockhart River and Benalla) it is unlikely that Australia is prepared to invest in WAAS based (SBAS) technology.
More likely it will be the cheaper GBAS (ground based augmentation system) technology which can easily be installed in the vicinity of CAPITAL CITY airports. Not rural, not regional.
Perhaps we should bring back the 200 MHz DME?
Anyway, congratulations to the captain and his crew on a textbook ditching.
P.S. It is acknowledged that there are SCAT 1 approaches at Norfolk Island but this technology is not generally available outside of the airlines.