1981 Barrington Tops Cessna 210 disappearance

The 1981 Barrington Tops Cessna 210 disappearance relates to the mysterious disappearance of a Cessna 210 flying from Whitsunday Coast Airport to Bankstown Airport via Gold Coast Airport. The last known contact with the aircraft was in the Barrington Tops area. Nothing further was heard and no trace of the aircraft or its occupants has so far been found despite extensive searches.

1981 Barrington Tops Cessna 210 disappearance
A Cessna 210 Centurion similar to the accident aircraft
Accident
Date9 August 1981 (1981-08-09)
SummaryAircraft crashed in an unknown location following probable instrument failure, turbulence and icing.[1]
SiteBarrington Tops
32°7.6′0″S 151°46′0″E
Aircraft
Aircraft typeCessna 210
OperatorColville Aviation Services
RegistrationVH-MDX
Flight originWhitsunday Coast Airport
StopoverGold Coast Airport
DestinationBankstown Airport
Passengers4
Crew1
Fatalities5
Survivors0

Accident

VH-MDX was a Cessna 210 which disappeared in New South Wales, Australia in 1981. No trace of the aircraft, or occupants, has ever been found.[2][3]

Background

VH-MDX was chartered by four Sydney workmates for a flight back from the Whitsunday Coast Airport on Sunday 9 August 1981. The men had been sailing in the Whitsunday Passage.[4] MDX stopped to refuel at Gold Coast Airport near Coolangatta and took off again at 5:02 p.m. The pilot had submitted a flight plan following the coast to Taree thence inland via Craven and Singleton to Bankstown, a suburb of Sydney. [5]

Disappearance

Shortly after passing waypoint CRAVN (32°7.6′0″S 151°46′0″E), the pilot reported excessive turbulence and downdraft, and that the aircraft's artificial horizon and gyroscopic direction indicator had failed.[6] At that time, the aircraft was identified by radar to be 45 nmi (83 km) from RAAF Base Williamtown near the Barrington Tops, or about 40 km (22 nmi; 25 mi) north-west of its planned track.[1] The aircraft's subsequent course is not clear, but the pilot reported ice accumulation and difficulty in gaining altitude. His final transmission at 19:39 EST indicated that he was at 5,000 feet (1,500 m).[2][1]

Searches

There have been many air-based and ground-based searches since the disappearance. Technologies employed include satellite imagery, aerial photography, magnetometry and chemical sampling of water downstream from the search area.[7]

References
  1. "Cessna 210M, VH-MDX, near Barrington Tops, NSW". Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  2. Keene, Neil (6 August 2015). "Barrington Tops Cessna crash: Have we been searching in the wrong place for flight VH-MDX?". Dailytelegraph. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  3. Gerard57 (11 October 2013). "ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 161392". Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  4. "Barrington Tops refuses to yield the 32-year mystery of the missing Cessna". 30 November 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  5. Readford, Donald A and Donovan, Garry, "Operation Phoenix, The Theoretical Search for the Crash Site of Cessna C-210 MDX", 2014 edition
  6. "Fear of Landing – Cessna Missing Barrington Tops and the 2013 Search". 11 October 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  7. "VH-MDX Search" (PDF). Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue Squad. 5 December 2014.
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