On 1 October 2012, ''Riama'', a 1934 vintage

de Havilland DH.84 Dragon The de Havilland DH.84 Dragon is a successful small commercial aircraft that was designed and built by the de Havilland company. Design and construction Following the commercial success of its single-engined de Havilland Fox Moth that had fir ...

passenger aircraft, crashed in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia, while flying from

Monto Monto was the nickname for the one-time red light district in the northeast of Dublin, Ireland. The Monto was roughly the area bounded by Talbot Street, Amiens Street, Gardiner Street and Seán McDermott Street (formerly Gloucester Street) in ...

Caboolture Caboolture () is a town and suburb in Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Caboolture had a population of 26,433 people. It is located on the north side of the Caboolture River, which separates the town from Morayfi ...

. Radio contact was lost about an hour after the pilot reported to be in cloud with zero visibility. The wreckage was found in heavily wooded, hilly terrain two days later. The pilot and five passengers were killed in the accident. The investigation by the

Australian Transport Safety Bureau The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is Australia's national transport safety investigator. The ATSB is the federal government body responsible for investigating transport-related accidents and incidents within Australia. It covers air ...

(ATSB) found that the pilot most likely fell victim to

spatial disorientation Spatial disorientation results in a person being unable to determine their position or relative motion, commonly occurring during periods of challenging visibility, since vision is the dominant sense for orientation. The auditory system, vestibular ...

and lost control of the aircraft. He was not qualified for

instrument flight In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fly ...

and the aircraft was not equipped for such operations. The weather at the time was reported as low clouds and rain.

Accident

The aircraft departed from the ''Norra-Aus Fly-In'' airshow in Monto a few minutes after 11:00 on a direct track towards Caboolture carrying the pilot and five non-paying passengers. The weather for the flight was expected to be VFR (

visual flight rules In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better ...

) conditions with good visibility, high clouds and light winds. At 13:15, the aircraft contacted

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

, reporting an approximate position 69 km north of Caboolture and requesting assistance with navigation. Shortly after, the pilot issued a distress call as the aircraft had entered thick cloud. Controllers in Brisbane then communicated positional information to the aircraft directly and relayed via other pilots in the area due to difficulties with radio reception. A friend of one of the passengers aboard ''Riama'' received a phone call from the aircraft, reporting that they were lost in cloud and unable to maintain altitude at around 13:20. Over the next hour, witnesses in the area around the crash site reported seeing the aircraft flying in and out of cloud at low level. At 13:48, the pilot reported he had one hour of fuel remaining and the last transmission from the aircraft came at 14:04. Neither the aircraft or the pilot were equipped or certified to fly without visual reference to the ground. A major search and rescue operation was coordinated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), involving as many as 15 helicopters as well as a specialized fixed wing aircraft flown in from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. The original search area covered an area of some 1500 square kilometers, made difficult by the hilly terrain and dense vegetation. Local residents on motorcycles also offered to help search remote trails. Police officers on horseback also joined the search. AMSA revealed that an emergency beacon had been activated on the aircraft about half an hour before the last contact, but the signal had since been lost. The wreckage was discovered just below a ridge line near Lake Borumba, 36 km south west of Gympie on 3 October with none of the occupants having survived the crash.

Aircraft

At the time of the accident, ''Riama'' was one of four airworthy examples of the DH.84 Dragon aircraft in the world. After sitting disassembled in a hangar for many years, the aircraft was restored at Murwillumbah Airport by vintage aircraft specialists Mothcair between 1998 and 2002. The aircraft was purchased by Des Porter, the accident pilot, who learned that parts used in the tail section of the aircraft had been sourced from another Dragon, also named ''Riama'', which had been owned by his father but was damaged in a 1952 crash landing at Archerfield Airport near

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. Porter himself had survived another accident in a Dragon at the age of 11 which killed his father and older brother in 1954. The distinctive red biplane had become a popular attraction at airshows and flying events around Australia. It was reported that on the weekend prior to the accident, Porter had raised some $15,000 for a

Bundaberg Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's regional area has a population of 70,921, and is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The Bun ...

based rescue helicopter service by offering joy-flights in ''Riama''.

Investigation

An investigation into the ''Riama'' crash was carried out by the

(ATSB), with the final findings released in December 2013. The preliminary findings showed that, contrary to some media reports that the aircraft ran out of fuel, at least one engine was operating at the time of the crash, and fuel was found in the tanks. The ATSB determined the time of impact to be approximately 14:21, 17 minutes after the last communication with the aircraft. The impact was determined to be not survivable.

Final report

The final accident report by the ATSB was released on 19 December 2013. The ATSB stated that: and They found that:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Queensland DH.84 Dragon crash, 2012 Aviation accidents and incidents in Queensland Aviation accidents and incidents in 2012 2010s in Queensland October 2012 events in Australia Accidents and incidents involving the de Havilland Dragon 2012 disasters in Australia