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Lucky emergency landingon the Mitchell Highway


Ben Vandenberg with his pregnant fiancee Jasmine following the emergency landing. Photo TWH
Ben Vandenberg with his pregnant fiancee Jasmine following the emergency landing. Photo TWH

A man and his pregnant fiancée escaped serious injury when their airplane engine failed and caught on fire over Nyngan last Friday, 24 January.

The couple were flying from the Gold Coast to Mildura in their Cirrus SR22 4-seater plane when it appeared that an engine conrod became loose and caused damage to the plane’s engine.

The pilot – Ben Vandenberg – said he was cruising at 8,000 feet when he heard a huge bang in the front of the plane, the engine lost oil pressure and appeared to be on fire.

Mr Vandenberg said that he immediately ‘ducked down’ without any power and found the Mitchell Highway to make an emergency landing – 15 kilometres southeast of Nyngan.

“The first stretch of the highway had a few trucks approaching so I tried further along the highway and was able to land and then taxi off the highway into a gravel siding.” Mr Vandenberg said.

“It’s quite a shock to find yourself 8,000 feet in the air without power and no certainty of finding a safe strip to land on. (…)


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