Plane missing after failing to land at Lakeside Airpark, Prosperine in Queensland
Plane disappears without a trace over Australia with two people on board: Desperate search mission is underway
- Plane missing with two passengers
- Search and rescue mission launched
A major search is underway after a plane with two people on board failed to arrive at an airport in rural Queensland.
The plane took off from Natal Downs cattle station, south of Charters Towers, on Sunday afternoon.
It was reported missing after failing to arrive at Lakeside Airpark, in Proserpine, by 6:30 pm.
The aircraft is said to be a white-and-green Piper Cherokee, a light aircraft designed for flight training, air taxi, or personal use.
RACQ CQ Rescue has been called in to help search for a plane that is overdue in Bloomsbury
A desperate search has been launched led by the Joint Rescue Coordination Center of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
Two helicopters and a fixed-wing plane failed to find any trace of the missing plane last night.
Bureau of Meteorology service forecaster Ricus Lombard said search teams had to contend with poor and wet conditions.
‘It’s getting less… (but the) potential with showers and storms. There’s also quite a bit of cloud cover,” Lombard said.
“There’s a weak trough to the north, so there’s some rain and storm in the area.”
The search comes nearly two months after several Australians were killed when their light aircraft crashed near a volcano in the Philippines on Feb. 18.
Simon Chipperfield and Karthi Santhanam, both from South Australia, were on board a Cessna RPC340 that crashed after leaving Bicol International Airport in Albay.
It is understood that the six-seat Cessna 340 aircraft was on its way to the capital Manila after the engineers’ visit to the Bac-Man Geothermal Power Plant.
However, communication with the aircraft’s pilot was lost three minutes after the aircraft took off.
The plane was last seen five minutes after leaving the airport before being reported missing.
Secretary of State Penny Wong expressed her condolences after the crash.
“On behalf of the Australian Government, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the two men, Simon Chipperfield and Karthi Santhanam, both from Adelaide, my hometown, as well as the Philippine nationals involved,” she said. .
Pilot Rufino James Crisostomo Jr. and mechanic Joel Martin were also on board.
The wreckage was located near a ‘permanent danger zone’ and a certain ‘no-fly zone’ around the volcano.
More to come
An aerial search around Bloomsbury for a reported missing aircraft