1st comment posted

If anyone is interested there is a comment posted to Rob Campbell's post in September's blog. Thanks for that Snowy. I thought it would take precedence for this months blog as it is a new post but it looks like a comment must stay with the post it is attached to whenever the original post was created. You learn something every day. Nev

Announcement

To all readers of this blog. I've decided to open this blog for public comment. To access the blog use the comment button at the bottom of the post. You will need to wait one day before posting as well as verify and open a gmail account before commenting, googles rules not mine!. I must admit to being a control freak and checking all emails but not altering them in any way before posting. I'm willing to trial this open blog to comment to promote a discussion forum with quicker response times. If any of our readers have search tips, techniques or links to similar sites send them in.

regards

Nev

Reply from Nev

Thanks for the email lee, It's funny you mention the West of Forster. The emails coming in to this blog all seem to be pointing away from the Barrington Tops area to the north, possibly north east. Do any of our regular readers have any thoughts on this ?

Nev

Lee Wright

Hi Nev,

No problem. It sounds to me like there was a lot of eye witness accounts & they can't all be correct so this may be just nothing. We lived near Coomba Park on the Western side of Wallis Lake (about 8km West of Forster) back then . My mother (a pilot in her younger years), was travelling along Coomba Road when she noticed a plane flying low over the lake around that time. When she heard about the crash she felt it could have been the plane. I don't know if she reported it or not. There could be other explanations for this:

1. If it was after the crash it could have been a search plane possibly launched from the Wallis Island airport.
2. It could have been another plane from the Wallis Island airport although this would be extremely unusual at that time of night.

I wondered if it was possible for the plane to have traveled that far East but I do note that a search was conducted as far East as Buladelah.

I know Wallis Lake extremely well - I was about 13 then & a boating fanatic. I've explored just about every corner of Wallis lake. The main part of the lake is too shallow for a plane not to be noticed. The deeper estuaries (max 4 Metres) are extensively netted by fishermen & I think they would have dragged up something by now.

I do think a plane could go down in Myall Lake just to the South & not be noticed. I don't know it well but I believe it's considerably deeper. Much of the area such as the Wallingat State forest is quite unpopulated and a plane could pass over without being noticed by many. I think it would be harder for a plane to pass at low altitude over the coast without being seen. Even back then the coast was fairly populated.

Are you aware of any other reports from the Forster/Wallingat area?

Anyway, just thought I'd share what I know of the incident.

Regards,




Lee.