HMAS Melbourne - HMAS Melbourne

On February 10, 1975 at 03:25 AM, HMAS Melbourne - HMAS Melbourne experienced a crash involving Grumman S-2 Tracker, operated by Royal Australian Navy, with the event recorded near Jervis Bay New South Wales.

The flight was categorized as training and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

4 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 4 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. Tracker N12-153608 was catapulted from the carrier at 2200 hours on 9 February 1975 to carry out an anti-submarine warfare close support task. The night was unusually dark with no visible horizon so that approximately three hours of the flight were spent in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). At 0323 hours the following morning, the aircraft attempted a routine landing using the mirror landing system as an approach aid. In the days preceding the accident, the mirror setting had been changed from an approach slope of 4° to 4.5° but the pilot had not been informed of this. In consequence, the approach was slightly high and fast, the aircraft failed to pick up an arrester wire, an event known as a "bolter", and it subsequently crashed into the sea approximately ten seconds later. All four crew members managed to escape from the sinking aircraft and were rescued uninjured. Accident occurred off the Jervis Bay, in the Tasman Sea. Source: Phil Thompson

Aircraft reference details include registration N12-153608, MSN 340C, year of manufacture 1957.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -35.0567°, 150.7262°.