Ingham - Tully

On August 16, 2007 at 03:13 PM, Ingham - Tully experienced a crash involving PAC Cresco 08-600 (08-750), operated by Thunderbirds International, with the event recorded near Tully Queensland.

The flight was categorized as ferry and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

1 people were known to be on board, 1 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The pilot was ferrying the aircraft under the visual flight rules (VFR) from the operator’s base at Tully, Qld to Ingham and return. The flights, conducted in the private category without passengers, were to allow aircraft maintenance to be conducted at Ingham. The flight from Tully to Ingham was conducted in the morning, with no reported difficulties. At 1454 Eastern Standard Time, the pilot departed Ingham on the return flight to Tully. The aircraft did not arrive at Tully. It was not until the next day that the pilot and aircraft were reported missing. Australian Search and Rescue (AusSAR) was notified and a search, based on the last air traffic control radar observed position of an unidentified aircraft from a replay of recorded radar data together with witness reports from the area, was initiated. Searchers located the aircraft wreckage on the morning of 18 August. The aircraft had impacted mountainous terrain in a state forest 24 km south of Tully. The pilot was fatally injured and the aircraft was destroyed.

Aircraft reference details include registration VH-XMN, MSN 036, year of manufacture 2002.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -17.9342°, 145.9234°.