Disappearance and Search
On a training flight departing Coolangatta at 1301 Eastern Standard Time (ESuT), a Ted Smith Aerostar 601 aircraft, registered VH-WRF, went missing. The aircraft carried a flight instructor and a commercial pilot who was undergoing initial multi-engine training. The flight was conducted in the Byron Bay area, approximately 55 km south-south-east of Coolangatta, outside controlled airspace and without air traffic control monitoring.
The weather was fine with a south-easterly wind of 10–12 knots and scattered cloud with a base between 2,000 and 2,500 feet. The purpose of the flight was to introduce the commercial pilot to asymmetric flight.
At approximately 1445, the operator notified Australian Search and Rescue that the aircraft was overdue. Recorded radar data from Airservices Australia showed that the aircraft disappeared from radar coverage at 1335, at a position approximately 18 km east-south-east of Cape Byron.
Debris Recovery
Search vessels recovered several items from the ocean surface in the vicinity of the last radar position. These included aircraft checklist pages, a blanket, a seat cushion from the cabin, and a number of small pieces of cabin insulation material. None of the recovered items showed evidence of heat or fire damage. No further trace of the aircraft was found.
Investigation and Findings
The official investigation determined that without the aircraft wreckage or more detailed information regarding the behavior of the aircraft in the final stages of the flight, there was insufficient information to draw a conclusion about the development of the accident. Many possible explanations exist.
The fact that no radio transmission was received from the aircraft around the time radar contact was lost could indicate that the aircraft was involved in a sudden or unexpected event at that time that prevented the crew from operating the radio. The speed regime of the aircraft during the last recorded data points indicated that airframe failure due to aerodynamic overload was unlikely. The nature of the items recovered from the ocean surface indicated that the aircraft cabin had been ruptured during the accident sequence.