WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

On Saturday (7/11/09) I was on top of the sand dunes at Lancelin when I heard a light aircraft approaching.
As I turned around I saw a Cessna flying low over the dunes, so low in fact that I could see the pilots face as he flew only a few feet above were we where standing.
The Cessna continued on and turned left to run parallel to the beach and then descended and I guess landed on the beach.

I initialy thought the pilot was playing silly buggers but im wondering if he had some problem that meant he needed to land on the beach.

Im just wondering if anyone has heard anything about it. It was a rather unusual experience.

Cheers

Bundy wrote:On Saturday (7/11/09) I was on top of the sand dunes at Lancelin when I heard a light aircraft approaching.
As I turned around I saw a Cessna flying low over the dunes, so low in fact that I could see the pilots face as he flew only a few feet above were we where standing.
The Cessna continued on and turned left to run parallel to the beach and then descended and I guess landed on the beach.

I initialy thought the pilot was playing silly buggers but im wondering if he had some problem that meant he needed to land on the beach.

Im just wondering if anyone has heard anything about it. It was a rather unusual experience.

Cheers

you didn't happen to catch the registration did you? (would have been on the side of the tail, or under the wing, VH something)

what you have just said is describing something beyond illegal, you aren't allowed below 500 feel above the deck unless you have written permission (which is impossible to get unless you have one hell of a reason).

how low (would you estimate) the aircraft was, and around what time?

Hi Nafenn,

I didnt catch the rego other than to say im sure it wasnt an Australian rego. I was looking for VH- something
but I saw several numbers on the tail.
I wish I had been quick enough to get my camera phone out but sadly this wasnt the case.

In regards to height, Im not sure how high the dune was but the plane was no more than about 15m (If that) above our heads. I would guess he was flying at a few hundred feet above the deck and I think the plane was a cesna 172.
My dad used to fly light aircraft many years ago and Im sure this one was a 172.

Thats about all the info I can give you unfortunately .

Bundy wrote:Hi Nafenn,

I didnt catch the rego other than to say im sure it wasnt an Australian rego. I was looking for VH- something
but I saw several numbers on the tail.
I wish I had been quick enough to get my camera phone out but sadly this wasnt the case.

In regards to height, Im not sure how high the dune was but the plane was no more than about 15m (If that) above our heads. I would guess he was flying at a few hundred feet above the deck and I think the plane was a cesna 172.
My dad used to fly light aircraft many years ago and Im sure this one was a 172.

Thats about all the info I can give you unfortunately .

if it had an N infront of the numbers, it was likley an american callsign - which there aren't many of in Australia (for obvious reasons), and they are the only ones with numbers i know of

*EDIT*

thanks to a mind prompt from Zebedee... P2-ROP (a Cessna 182) was in perth recently, does that ring any bells?

Around what time (roughly) was this?

Numbers on the tail also sounds a bit like a RA-Aus Rego. This would of course not be the case if it was a Cessna and you seem pretty sure about that.
I have seen a few recreational aircraft tooling around over the beach and dunes up at Lano and Ledge point, including a few high wing variants that could possibly be mistaken for a Cessna at a glance. Just a thought.