The 1981 Barrington Tops Cessna 210 disappearance relates to the mysterious disappearance of a

Cessna 210 The Cessna 210 Centurion is a six-seat, high-performance, retractable-gear, single-engined, high-wing general-aviation aircraft. First flown in January 1957, it was produced by Cessna until 1986. Design and development The early Cessn ...

flying from Whitsunday Coast Airport to

Bankstown Airport Bankstown Airport is an airport and business park located in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, approximately from the Sydney Central Business District (CBD), Australia and west of Sydney Airport. It is situated on of land and has three pa ...

via

Gold Coast Airport Gold Coast Airport (formerly known as Coolangatta Airport) is an international Australian airport located at the southern end of the Gold Coast and approximately south of centre of Brisbane, within South East Queensland agglomeration. Th ...

. The last known contact with the aircraft was in the

Barrington Tops Barrington Tops is part of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales, Australia, between Gloucester and Scone. In 1934, the area was difficult to access and was described as being "not traceable to any man-made feature". Part of the area has ...

area. Nothing further was heard and no trace of the aircraft or its occupants has so far been found despite extensive searches.

Accident

VH-MDX was a

which disappeared in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia in 1981. No trace of the aircraft, or occupants, has ever been found.

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. MDX stopped to refuel at

near

Coolangatta Coolangatta is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is the Gold Coast's southernmost suburb and it borders New South Wales. In the , Coolangatta had a population of 5,948 people. Geography Coolangatta and its ...

and took off again at 5:02 p.m. The pilot had submitted a flight plan following the coast to

Taree Taree is a town on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Taree and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then Taree has grown to a population of 26,381, and is the centre of a significant agricultural distr ...

thence inland via Craven and

Singleton Singleton may refer to: Sciences, technology Mathematics * Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element * Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing * Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...

to Bankstown, a suburb of Sydney.

Disappearance

Shortly after passing

waypoint A waypoint is an intermediate point or place on a route or line of travel, a stopping point or point at which course is changed, the first use of the term tracing to 1880. In modern terms, it most often refers to coordinates which specify one's posi ...

CRAVN (), the pilot reported excessive turbulence and downdraft, and that the aircraft's

artificial horizon The attitude indicator (AI), formerly known as the gyro horizon or artificial horizon, is a flight instrument that informs the pilot of the aircraft orientation relative to Earth's horizon, and gives an immediate indication of the smallest or ...

and gyroscopic direction indicator had failed. At that time, the aircraft was identified by radar to be from RAAF Base Williamtown near the

, or about north-west of its planned track. 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 .

Searches

There have been many air-based and ground-based searches since the disappearance. Technologies employed include satellite imagery,

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...

magnetometry A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, ...

and chemical sampling of water downstream from the search area.

References

External links

Search for Missing Aircraft VH-MDX
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1981 Aviation accidents and incidents in New South Wales Hunter Region Aviation accidents and incidents in 1981 1980s in New South Wales Missing aircraft