Family returns to Nyngan to celebrate safe landings — and a new baby

Jasmine and Ben after their more conventional landing at Nyngan this week. Photo TWH

Ben Vandenberg and his pregnant fiancée were enjoying a leisurely return flight from Mildura to the Gold Coast earlier this year when they experienced every pilot and passenger’s nightmare – engine failure and an onboard fire in their aircraft. The Cirrus SR22 Ben was flying was cruising at 8000 feet when it lost power over Nyngan. Ben had to make the difficult decision to land his aircraft on the Mitchell Highway, 15 kilometres southeast of the town.

The drama unfolded on January 23 and that day will forever be part of the Vandenberg family history. Jasmine was 23 weeks pregnant, making the mid-air emergency even more fraught.

The Australian Transport Safety Board this month released its report into the engine failure, which Ben and Jasmine said did not capture the true nature of the critical incident, which almost claimed their lives.

Landing back in Nyngan – thankfully on an airstrip – brought the memories of the engine failure flooding back, but this time there was an extra and very special passenger joining them – baby Jett, now four months old.

“It was a near death experience,” Ben said. “I thought we were gone. It was a nightmare – smoke in the cabin, loss of engine power.

“When the engine caught fire, we went into a dive-bomb – boom to the ground in three minutes, 4000 feet a minute. […]

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