September 14, 2025 • 49 mins
On August 9, 1981, a small Cessna 210 aircraft carrying five men vanished over the rugged wilderness of Barrington Tops, NSW. Despite extensive searches, no wreckage or remains were ever recovered, and the fate of the aircraft remains one of Australia’s most baffling aviation mysteries.
In this episode, we explore the background of the passengers, the last radio transmissions, the massive search efforts, and the eerie theories that still surround the disappearance. Was it a tragic accident, or is there more to the story hidden in the misty ranges of Barrington Tops?
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/weird-crap-in-australia--2968350/support.
In this episode, we explore the background of the passengers, the last radio transmissions, the massive search efforts, and the eerie theories that still surround the disappearance. Was it a tragic accident, or is there more to the story hidden in the misty ranges of Barrington Tops?
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/weird-crap-in-australia--2968350/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A strange, spiraling white light was spotted in the early
morning sky over Sydney, with even skeptical witnesses wondering if
it was a UFO. They were last seen on the
beach with the tall man and that's the best description
police have ever had of it.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
More than seventeen years after Harold Holt disappeared into raging
surf at Chevy A Beach, his widow has finally revealed
his last romantic words docky, terrifying, mesmerizing. That's the way
a number of Australians have described the alleged encounter with
the Yowi.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's time for the Weird Crap In Australia podcast. Welcome
to the week Crap In Australia Podcast. I'm your host,
Matthew sol This is episode three hundred and seventy nine
and I am, of course joined by my researcher extraordinaire
(00:53):
and fellow co host Poly Soul. Hey everyone, so today,
ladies and gentlemen, we're going to territory that I know
very very well, and that is the classic bush mystery.
We have a Bermuda Triangle like situation, the disappearance of
four men in their aircraft as Ladies and Gentlemen is
(01:14):
the story of the the nineteen eighty one Barrington Pops crash. Holly,
take it away.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
On Sunday, August ninth, nineteen eighty one. That says, now
two tenth centurion, all signed VHMDX, lifted off from cool
and Gata Airport on the Gold Coast.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Frequently when we go up to the Gold Coast, Holly,
we often land at cool and Gadda. The last time
that we went to the Gold Coast we went there
to see the Batman exhibition that they held at the
Gold Coast, and that was a lot of the old
props and costumes had a feel films. Yeah, no, it
was great and it was great seeing all that in person, Holly.
(01:56):
I remember the landing in cool and Gata Airport was
probably the roughest landing I've ever had in a plane. Now,
I think I've made this known, but just in case
I haven't. I don't like flying. It is not for me.
I know some people enjoy it. I know that some
people have a pathological fear of it. I don't necessarily
(02:18):
have a pathological fear as long as they don't indulge
in sort of just rampant overthinking. You know, Oh, what's
that noise meaning? What's this mean? I am in a
metal tube thousands of kilometers the.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Land thousands of feet, you know, thousands of kilometers you'd
be off planet.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yay. I'm surrounded by a bunch of strangers and I'm
meant to be asleep around all these people.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well, see that's the thing. Let me just break in here.
You went, yay. There is a height limit, like there
is a in the middle where if we stick you
in that height you freak out. But above or below
that you'd be fine.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, hell yeah, I want to go space. Space is fine.
I have no problems with space.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I can't fall off space.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Well, you can't fall off space. You just float. You
float around in space. My enthusiasm of being an astronaut notwithstanding, Holly,
I don't particularly like flying. And we were approaching the
call and get an airport and it started to get very,
very turbulent, probably the worst turbulence I've experienced, which I
(03:29):
think on the grand scheme of turbulence was actually pretty mild.
But I remember the poor gentleman next to me and
he sort of put his hand on my hand and
He's like, is this normal. I haven't flown for quite
some time. I'm like, it's okay. There's a lot of
cloud we're coming through. It has been storming, there are
high winds, so this is just a little bit of turbulence.
(03:49):
Will be landing and we'll be fine. And internally, oh, internally,
we're all gonna die. Fuck this. Fuck planes. There's Holly,
there's holy not a care in the world, resting her head,
her head on her hand, looking out the window. He
(04:09):
does not give a single shit, does not worry or whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It goes down. I can't stop it, so why worry
about it?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And my other flying story was when we were headed
to Japan. See, I like going to places, and I'm
not going to let phobia help me from enjoying the
things I want. You know, we've been to Europe, we've
been over to Japan and been to New Zealand. All
of that involved a lot of flying. You could go
by boat, I suppose. And we're about to hit pretty
(04:40):
bad turbulence. And I had read a story. It was
a few weeks before we gone on the trip, and
I'd read a story about someone suffering terrible injuries because
of turbulence. You know, they had it been belted up,
they've been asleep in their chair. They got to throw
(05:00):
into the cabin of the roof. I believe they broke
their neck. You know. It was pretty pretty horrific for
that person. And I thought, okay, strap in, I'm all good.
And in front of us was an elderly woman who
jumped into these other seats to sleep. You know. She was, obviously,
like the rest of us, saw a situation, thought well,
(05:20):
I need some sleep. I'm going to jump on these
three chairs. And I repeatedly thought, if they don't see
something and we hit turbulence, she's going to get thrown
straight into the roof. So I'm going to say something.
I was like, excuse me, ma'am, are you okay? I'm
just saying, you know, the turbulence slider is on, you
(05:41):
probably want to, you know, sit up and put your
seatbelt on. It's like blank, staring at me, like slowly blinking.
Obviously i'd woken her up, so I understand that. So
I repeated myself again and again, and I look over
at her husband, who's looking directly at me, and he's
(06:02):
all belted up, and I sort of recalled turning towards you,
Holly and saying, well, I don't I don't know what
to do at this point. I think I've tried my best.
I've tried to be a good Samaritan.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Holly sympathy definitely spiked when she said, oh, well, fuck up.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's It did seemed really weird me out of how
the husband was all strapped in ready to go and
don't think to tell his wife. Maybe he was sick
of I don't know what the story was there, but
air safety is very, very important, especially when you're flying
through mountainous regions. You want to have that belt on
(06:41):
so that if purbulence does heat you're not going to
get thrown into the roof and turned into well, basically
broken spaghetti.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
All like that one guy who just landed in the
roof that had to be helped to climb back down.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah. Yeah, he shot right into the roof.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
He was the panel moved and he just got up there.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah. You don't want to be either of those people.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Kind of my own psa heep he goddamn shoes on
everyone's feet smells. Everyone's feet is sore, especially when we're
on the flight to Europe. And you couldn't move. You
couldn't walk around that much, and you we basically had
our shoes on for like twenty eight hours straight. My
feet were so sore I didn't take them off, so skew.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
You have stinky feet?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
No I don't.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Well, then mind you keep your shoes on if you
don't have stinky.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Feet, because I was in the middle and you complain
when I take my shoes off. But I also think
it's incredibly rude to take your shoes off in a
plane when it's a very small area, especially when three
hundred people fucking do it.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
That was a great flight, though, because I was chatting
to someone who was working on like all these different
NERD productions, which was pretty cool. Yeah, anyway, I don't
like flying for any reasons that I've illustrated.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
The Cessna is a single edged aircraft, a reliable model
often used for private and chatter lights across the globe.
Other says in aircraft we've covered on this show, including
the one piloted by Fred Valentich in nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Well, you're going all the way back to episode two
with the Valentage's disappearance. If you're not familiar. That is
an infamous UFO encounter perhaps where Fred Valentiche reported that
there were lights chasing him and then his aircraft proceeded
to disappear, never to be seen again. What most likely
(08:30):
happened Ockham's raiser situation here is that he accidentally flipped
himself over and happened to see the reflections of his lights,
thinking he was being chased or he was taken by aliens.
It's completely up to you.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I'm not sure which one of those is meant to
be the Ockham's Raiser, but okay.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Path of Lease Resistance Holly and.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We also mentioned as Sesna when the police were chasing
the Kimberly killer back in episode ten.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
They're a good little all arounder. They're a little prop
plane and they have been used for people learning to fly.
If you are somewhat successful and can afford to either
rent or own your own aircraft, it's usually the little
Cessnas that were the I think still are they still are? Yeah?
I think they're the like learning vehicle of choice for
(09:23):
amateur pilots.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
On board this particular Cessna were five men, four passengers
and their pilot, all heading south to Bankstown Airport. In Sydney.
The flight should have taken just a couple of hours,
but instead the plane and its passengers vanished into the
rugged wilderness of the Barrington Tops.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
See this is where I get a little bit confused
about this story, Holly. So are you familiar with the
location of the Barrington Tops?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yes, because I've googled it.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Okay, So the ACT Rescue Services they go up to
train at the Barrington Tops, as well as other New
South Wales personnel. Whereabouts is it? Where is it actually located?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
It's located. It's like a triangle. If you take Port
Moresby and Newcastle and that's one edge of the triangle,
and then you point out west is the point of
the triangle. That's roughly where Barrington Tops would be. So
it's north of Sydney right right, So it's a little
bit south of Dubbo, right.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
So that's hence why they were traveling between Queensland and
Sydney and traveled over e you know. So they're traveling
over that So it's not very close to where we
are right now.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
No, it is not. It's part of the Great Dividing Range,
is just not the southern part.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And why would you deviate that far.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
That is the million dollar question.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah yeah, and we will get to it all right. Well,
that's enough questions for me for the moment, Holle, I'm
going to let you continue on.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
The men were not strangers to adventure. They'd recently sailed
a yacht from Sydney to Prosifine in Queensland, a demanding
journey in its own right. The passengers included Inspector Ken Price,
a well respected officer of the Sydney Water Police, Philip Penbroke,
aged forty three, initially reported as phil Elmbroke, which confused
the hell out of me when I went looking for him,
(11:14):
Brett Boster thirty three, and Noel wild Ash. The pilot,
Michael Hutchinson, known to his friends as Hutchins, was experienced
but found himself in worsening conditions that evening. Together they
set out on a routine flight that quickly spiraled into
crisis and as a quicker side, it's amazing how many
Michael Hutchins or Hutchinson's show up every time I do
(11:35):
a research for weird crap. In Australia, the Sessna departed
from cool and Gatta Airport on the Gold coast at
five oh two pm, and almost immediately Hutchinson began radioing
reports of difficulties the aircraft encounter turbulence and heavy downdrafts,
the sort of erratic weather common around the Great Dividing Range,
particularly in winter.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Well, this is why they refer to this particular triangle
as a sort of Australian Bermuda Triangle, don't they. Yes,
because it is. It's pretty rough and a lot of
aircraft have gotten into trouble around this particular area. Yes,
so again you're not for aware aware, I don't. I
don't know if this is still popular anymore. They used
to be off the coast of Florida, this thing called
(12:19):
the Bermuda Triangle, and that's where a lot of ships
went down.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It didn't go down there, I was transported to a
different dimension.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Perhaps, Holly, perhaps, And because of all of these shipwrecks
and other ships that had sort of found themselves in trouble,
missing aircraft, all that sort of stuff around this particular area,
there was you know, it was ascribe to bad luck
or superstition or perhaps the sacred at the secret city
(12:52):
of Atlantis underneath the water off the coast of Florida,
but most likely what it was was chorl. Reefs are
the reef beds and unfortunate nexus of weather. Sometimes this
(13:12):
is the one thing you know, never abscribe to magic.
What you can explain with science. The problem is that
certain topographical configurations, it's a fancy word for saying, sometimes
rocks in a certain way will create a sort of
scenario where you will get these natural occurrences of extreme
(13:33):
weather events. It has to do with a lot of
different things. I'm not a meteorologist, I'm not a scientist.
I'm not going to be able to be I'm not
going to be able to adequately explain this. I understand
the very broad strokes of the concept. And the concept
is that you know, this particular area is prone to
(13:53):
these weather events because of the way it naturally formed.
You know, lots of dips and gullies, holly like, lots
of forest, lots of rises, lots of mist, lots of
normal you know, rain, foresty jungly sort of weather patterns.
(14:16):
And the reason that you have a forest there is
because there's an abundance of water. You wouldn't have a
forest there otherwise, right yep, So does that make a
bit of sense.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yes it does. I'd like to make a quick correction
of myself. I believe I said Port Moresby. I actually
meant Port McQuary. Port Moresby is in Papua New Guinea.
That's an awfully big frangle. At this point in time,
the plane was traveling over Tari, New South Wales, a
bit south of Port mcquarie, as it radioed in its
first issues. Soon after, one of the plane's key systems failed,
(14:51):
the vacuum pump that powered both the artificial horizon and
the gyroscope, which is basically what tells the pilot whether
the plane is level. For any pilot, but particularly one
flying through cloud and turbulence, this was disastrous. The artificial
horizon is a primary instrument for maintaining level of flight
when visual references are gone. Without it, and with cloud
(15:12):
obscuring the stars and the ground, Hutchinson was effectively flying
blind in the mountains. At seven twenty four PM, Hutchinson
radioed that he had encountered thick cloud your requested permission
to climb to ten thousand feet, hoping to break above
the cloud cover. When you travel on a commercial aviation flight,
(15:32):
you generally travel in the band between thirty and thirty
seven thousand feet. Cessna cannot do that. It is too small,
So generally it will fly in the band between. It
means that the big planes aren't going to smash it
to pieces, but it also means it can maintain it's
pressurized by.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Being that low in that particular area, or is not.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You have mountains to worry about yet.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, so you've got more obstructions, is what you're saying
at that particular band.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, more danger, all right.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And we have a transcript of the conversation between the
Cessna and FIS five. So I'm assuming that Sydney Airport.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
So FIS five is the Sydney people, and then there's
ESV who are the military base?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Sneerbike? All right, Holly, so you can play the airport
in this situation, and why not let's make you the
military base as well. So I'm the Cessna for everyone
playing at home.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Don't do too much screaming yet, it's not at that point.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
All right. And the transcript goes as follows. Sydney Mike
Delta X ray is in the clag in turbulence and
we request clearance to ten thousand from eight thousand.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Okay, Sierra Victor, Sydney, understand the winds at nine thousand
a westerlies about seventy knots. Are there any clouds in
that area?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Negative? There's no cloud at all above eight thousand feet
that's the military base.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
And then FAS five comes back. Mike to x Ray, Sydney,
Echocierra Victor advised a snowcloud above eight thousand feet. However,
the westerly winds are about seventy six knots.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Just to compound a little problem, I lost my APH
and d I and if I could get ten I'd
appreciate it. And also a radar steer to Bankstown.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
No traffic at one zero thousand, report cruising one zero thousand.
Can you maintain a rate of climb without your artificial horizon?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yes, affirmative, I'll go to ten thousand. That's a quote
from Cessna Missing Barrington Tops and twenty thirteen search fear
of landing Sylvia Wrigley the eleventh of October twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Four minutes later, at seven twenty eight pm, search and
rescue protocols were triggered, with the FIS aware that the
plane may make a rocky turbulent or crash landing somewhere
unable to control its flight. Mike Delta x Ray present heading.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Mike Delta x ray is averaging somewhere around two hundred and.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Twenty, and then Sector one steps in two.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Hundred and twenty. Tell him, I don't know what it's
like for cloud. He's in the cloud at the moment,
is he? Yeah? Mate, And he's lost his artificial horizon.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And he's adf by the sound of things and his
adf Yes, he's got problems. This boy quote.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
From CESNA missing Barrington Tops and the twenty thirteen search
fear of the landing.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
For a moment, it looked as though he'd stabilize things.
At seven thirty four pm, he recorded clearing the cloud lab,
but then added he was carrying us on the wings,
a deadly hazard that adds weight and reduced the lip.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I'll just fix the icing issue, exactly that problem. We've
picked up a fair amount of ice, and I can
just make out a few towns on the post. I'd
appreciate it. Hell, we just got in a down draft.
We're down at about a thousand a minute.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
MDX Roger is the aircraft equipped with Beto heating.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
It's a single engined and we'll try to continue our flightplan.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Roger, the lights are on at Maitland. The lights are
on at Maitland. Say again, Maitland, the lights are on
at Maitland. If you wish to divert and make a
landing at Maitland.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
No, we thought we had a just to compound things,
we thought we had a cockpit fire. But we seem
to have resolved that little problem west Maitland. But would
appreciate it if you could leave the lights on for
a while.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Mike Delta X Ray Wilco.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Cessna missing Barrington Tops and the twenty thirteen search. Now
I'm assuming leaving the lights on is a radio speak
for we're probably going to need further assistance, stay in communication.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
That, but it's also literally leave the lights on the
runway one for us so we can find it. Oh okay,
at this point in times seven point thirty, in the
middle of winter, it is definitely very.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Darn absolutely, especially around those areas.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Hutchin's final transmission came in at seven thirty nine PM,
when he reported flying at five thousand feet. Radar traced
the plane as it drifted northwest of its intended course
about eighty three kilometers from RAAF Base Williamtown, near the
Barrington Tops. Then the signal disappeared. The emergency beacon never activated.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
A NASA instructor was conducting a night VMC dual training
flight in the local area. He diverted to Singleton due
to a wall of cloud lying on a line to
Nelson Bay and heard the exchange between final exchanges, and
heard the exchange between final exchanges between Sydney and mx D.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Unfortunately, that's an editing issue of the source.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
This is from the investigation notes. He remembered thinking that
the pilot's voice was very casual when commenting that his
aircraft was going up and down like something or other.
In detailing other problems he was having, the voice became
more panicky. However, on the last call, which was short
and said only Sydney five thousand or something like that,
(20:59):
it was nearly screen. He heard no calls from the
aircraft after that. The last known radar position of the
aircraft was recorded over Barrington Pops at nine thirty six gmt,
quite from Cessna missing Barrington Tops and the twenty thirteen
search nine.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Thirty six gmt. That's British time. That's the Weld standard
for aviation time, which would put it at roughly the
times I've already given you.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
So first question, why don't we have a military base
out there?
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Because there's a lot of open air and you can
fly aircraft without running into anybody right or over a city.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
So when we're talking about a military base, it's in
that position because it's a good position to be a
defensible position. You can send up a lot of aircraft,
do a lot of training, that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
That is exactly it within ours search efforts began, yet
the Barrington Tops National Park north of Newcastle was a
formidable opponent. A plateau of dense, temperate rainforests, steep bridges
and deep ravines. It is infamous for unpredictable weather winds,
how through the ranger, fog rolls in without warning, and
(22:02):
winter bring snow and ice that can make the terrain
impassable even for experienced bushwalkers. The tops can be unforgiving
for rescuers. In nineteen eighty one, trying to locate a
small white aircraft hidden beneath canopy, it was like looking
for a pin in a haystack.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
The area controller of the State Emergency Services Mister Keith
Watt said that if the men had made to survive
the crash, there was still some chance that they might
be alive despite two nights of exposure and rugged terrain
and freezing temperatures. Police said it appeared that the Cessenat
had crashed in some of the most mountainous area in
the state, known as the Barrington Tops National Park and
(22:40):
the Chester State Forest. Gales yesterday campered the aeri or
search for the aircraft. At least six helicopters and six
fixed winged spotter aircraft carried out a limited search of
the country late yesterday afternoon. Wreckage was cited the amount
pot croaked, but further examination by a police helicopter showed
the wreckage to be several weeks years old. Quote from
(23:01):
the Camera Times at Tuesday, the eleventh of August nineteen
eighty one, page three, slim hope for missing flyers. What's
really interesting about Barrington Tops as well as where a
lot of people in the emergency services go to train
SES and military and the SEES commander that I was
reading about today said that when it came to the
(23:23):
Barrington Tops, if you can search there and make a
real go of it and tick all your boxes. You
can search anywhere in the country.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
The first night, gale force winds grounded several aerial searches.
The next day, six helicopters and six planes took to
the air, flying grid patterns across a ten thousand, six
hundred square kilometer area. Pilot's look for a scar in
the forest canopy, a patch of broken trees where the
cessna might have crashed. Helicopters hugged the terrain at low altitudes,
(23:53):
while fixing aircraft flew higher, scanning white arcs on the ground.
Police and SEES volunteers are preparing to push into the
rainforest if a crash site was located. The reason why
you have your helicopter's closer to the ground is because
they're much easier to maneuver.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
When I was still with the Royal Fire Service back
in the day, some of us were lucky enough to
get air dropped into a fire area to start building
some firebreaks.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Were you one of them?
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I was not, but my friends were the other fire cadets.
Some of those guys got put on a plane, sorry,
a helicopter. It's just about maneuverability and size you know,
vertical left up and down makes it a lot easier
to get an aircraft there. But yeah, no, I mean, honestly, Holly,
(24:44):
you wouldn't have got me on that fucking thing anyway.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I thought it was a little bit out of character,
I will be honest.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
You know. It's like dealing with like I was on
the back of fire trucks. That didn't worry me. You
just don't. I just don't want to be air dropped there.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
You don't fall far from the back of a flag exactly.
That Monday, wreckage was sighted near Mount pock Crow. Hope
surged briefly, only to collapse when investigators confirmed it was
from an old crash unrelated to the missing cessna. The
disappointment was crushing for families waiting on news. The search
(25:17):
only grew from there. By Tuesday, August eleven, the effort
had swollen to twelve helicopters and eleven planes, joined by
the Army, the Air Force, media aircraft, and civilian pilots
offering their services. But there were more incidents to report
in connection to the missing Cessna, including the death of
a helicopter pilot and his two passengers.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
The pilot of a r WAF helicopter narrowly escaped death
last Thursday when his aircraft made of force landing was
killed yesterday when the same machine plunged into a swamp
from about three hundred and fifty meters. Another arter BLAF
pilot and criman were killed. Also, all RAF and ran
Icarus helicopters have been grounded as the result of the
(25:59):
l latest accident. Flight Lieutenant Adrian John Byron, thirty two,
married of the rb AF base Williamstown near Newcastle, was
test flying the aircraft after it had been thoroughly inspected
as a result of last Thursday's incident. It was flying
over the Meadowy, about five kilometers from Williamstown about eleven
(26:21):
forty five am yesterday when the machines plummeted to the ground,
apparently in some sort of nosedeyed noseedown attitude, from which
he narrowly recovered it last week. Also aboard the Icarus
were Squadron leader Derek John Knights thirty two, married of Ipswich, Queensland,
and Sergeant Brian Douglas Wilson, crewman thirty single, of Rosewood, Queensland.
(26:42):
A witness said he believed he saw some sort of
explosion on board the machine. Another is understood to have
reported the machine lost its main roader. In last week's incidents.
There were three AF crew aboard, as well as five
civilians who have been helping them the search for a
missing light aircraft in the Barrington Tops area. The helicopter
was landed in a panic after the last Thursday's incident
(27:03):
and was lifted back to Williamstown by ruble Af Chinook helicopter.
It had been expected before yesterday's crash that the later
B model Icarus would be freed from flying restrictions after
the lifting of the grounding order against the H models
on Monday. The RUBAF has thirty one H models and
thirteen B models, most of which are at least fifteen
years old. The Department of Defense has issued a requirement
(27:26):
for new helicopters for itself. The rain and the Army.
Quote from the Camera Times, Thursday of twentieth of August
nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
The wilderness swallowed everything. No wreckage, no signal from the
emergency beacon, no sign of the five men. By September,
authorities scaled back the official effort, though they never really
gave up completely.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Inspector Rossnicksiith Police Disaster and Rescue Branch said it was
home to have about two hundred and fifty expert bushwalkers,
forestry workers, park rangers and police searching the Gloucester area
on September eighteen, nineteen and twenty. We will be searching
the most probable area, he said. It is extremely barren
and arduous terrain and we have scaled it down to
(28:12):
about fifty square miles, but this is still an extremely
large area to cover on foot. The wooded areas will
be searching are completely impenetrable by air, and although they
were searching by a plane, is unlikely that the Cessna
would have been visible from the air if it was there.
Quote from The Camera Times, Wednesday, second September nineteen eighty one,
page seventeen. Bush teams to seek los Cessna.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Once again, the weather refused to cooperate. Ice, snow, and
gale force winds forced teams back. On September three, hikers
claim to have found wreckage, but when police inspected the
site it proved to be another false league. The months
dragged on. In March nineteen eighty two, a husband and
wife flying over the tops reported what they thought was wreckage.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
The search for Assessa Online aircraft of five people on board,
missing since August in the Barrington Tops, one hundred kilometers
north of Newcastle, were resumed tomorrow following the signing of
wreckage by a Forbes businessman and his wife who flew
over the area on Wednesday. Quote from the camera time
Sunday twenty first to March nineteen eighty two, page three
air search.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
On March twenty third, nineteen eighty two, the official search
was called off. The Barrington Tops had beaten them. For
the families, it was devastation without closure, without bodies to
bury or wreckage to examine, they were left only with speculation.
Some clung to the hope that the men had somehow
survived and were living rough in the wilderness, but as
(29:42):
weeks turn some months, hope gave way to grief. Inspector
ken Price's colleagues and the Water Police mourned a respected officer.
The families of Pembroke, Bolster with wild Ash and Hutchinson
were left with the absence that time never filled.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Philip Pembroke Junior, thirty one steps from his high at
four w four wheel drive, dressed in a superman jumper.
Two hundred kilometers to the south, bushfires raging in the
Blue mountains, but here, at an altitude of fifteen hundred meters,
there's a chill in the air. His mother, Yvonne, and
his half brother, Damien forty six, followed him. The jumper,
(30:17):
hand knitted by Yvonne, belonged to the father. He never
knew that. August nine, in nineteen eighty one changed forever
the lives of these three people, Philip and then the
unborn son, Yvonne, then thirty and eight weeks pregnant, and Damien,
Philip Senior's son from a previous marriage. It's a odd
feeling for me, Philip Junior says, to be up here
(30:37):
looking for a man who I had no relationship with,
but someone who obviously had a profound effect on my
life and who I am. Quote from Barrington Tops refuses
to yield the thirty two year old mystery of the
missing Cessna.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
The fifteen hundred meters altitude is just short of five
thousand feet, so when we were talking about hight earlier,
that's roughly where they were. Over the years, the Barrington
Crash became part of aviation folklore pilots spoke of it
as though it were a ghost story, a reminder of
how swiftly conditions could overwhelm even experienced crews. It was
(31:13):
often described as a Boogeyman case, used in training to
drive home the importance of redundancy in instruments, of respecting
weather warnings, of not pressing on into cloud without visual
or instrumental support.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Nolan tells me that fifteen years ago, after he got
his pilot's license, he was flying a light plane from
Colling Gattter to Bankstown. I sort of overestimated my abilities
and got into a place I shouldn't have been, flying
in the clouds near Barrington, he says. After a nerve
jangling hour, he touched down safely at Singleton. An old
pilot who was there gave him a stern dressing down.
(31:49):
There are five men still up in those mountains who've
never been found, the pilot told him. Barrington Todps refuses
to yield thirty two year old mystery of being missing CESSNA.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
More than that, it became aious because it remained unsolved.
As of twenty thirteen. It was the only major aircraft
disappearance on the Australian mainland since the Second World War
that had not been resolved. There were attempts to break
the mystery. Some families turned to clairvoyance and psychics desperate
for answers.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
And I'm sure they were all provided with the answers
they wanted. We found the missing plane and the crew,
and they solved all the other mysteries in the surrounding
area and returned the Belmont children.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
No, some psychics came of their own volition. They gave
co ordinates, made predictions, but none proved accurate, which Matthew
is very shocked about.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
It's somewhere in Barrington Tops forest area. I see gum trees,
any humidity. I hope that helps.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I'm getting forests and getting getting clo out.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
These bloodsycking leeches. Me.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I wish I didn't have the morality that I do,
or I'd go out. I's a lot of money doing
this shit.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Yeah, that's probably the biggest piss off, isn't it. It's
like you won't hurt people or do wrong by them,
so you don't engage with it. Look, I'm not going
to tell someone how to grieve. I'm not going to
tell them how like if you're missing someone that you love,
and there's even the slightest, most remote chance that employing
(33:30):
a psychic is going to help in some way, shape
or form. I have no problem with a family doing that.
My problem is people saying that they have abilities that
they do not have and they're unable to produce results,
yet taking money from a grieving family. I just think
that's pretty fucking low. And the reason that I say
that we haven't had any psychics actually do their psychic
(33:54):
business and do it well is because we've talked about
numerous stories where psychics have been employed. Have never, in
the entire history of weircraft in Australia managed to help
solve even one case, whether.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
They be alien or ghost or missing person or murder.
No one ever manages to solve any And.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
You might turn around and go, oh, well, you guys
are biased. We've done seven years of Australian history. There
is literally six books just quick plot book six out
now mates out at Impact Comics dot com to you.
They'll hook you up with the book. Oh there's six
books of austrain history. A lot of them have employed psychics.
(34:34):
We have never once come across any police report that
turns around and says Yeah, this psychic actually helped us.
We'd recommend them in future criminal investigations. Never happens.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
The dense rainforest canopy was simply too effective at hiding
the record. A small aircraft crashing into trees at speed
could shatter, with debris hidden under vegetation or scattered inter
evne mean's impossible to reach. Without a beacon to guide rescuers,
the plane might as well have vanished into thin end.
Three decades later, in twenty thirteen, a new push began.
(35:11):
Brenton Carlton of the New South Wales Bomb Disposal Squad,
intelligence officer Julian Hicks Bushwalker, and wilderness rescue specialist Glenn Horricks,
an Australian Army corporal and pilot Mark Nolan, assembled a
team to re examine the case. Kind of feels a
bit Oceans eleven.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
It does a little bit. Yeah. Assembling your experts, you're
eighteen your avengers.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
They went back to the raw data, flight logs, radar returns,
weather reports and witness statements. Their analysis suggested a new
search zone, a two kilometer by one kilometer stretch of
land at the head of the Williams River, one of
the harshest and most inaccessible parts of the Barrington Tops.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
The intent was stripped through everything. Pull out all the
records and give it our best shot, Carlton tells me.
I took on an advice group and they re examined
everything in a surgical manner. This team included his intelligence officer,
Julian Hicks Porrex, and an army corporal and pilot Mark Nolan.
Quote from Barrington Top's refuses to yield thirty two year
old mystery of the missing cessna. Now we're going to
(36:13):
wrap this up very quickly. Actually tell you what, Holly,
you twoe threw your last couple of paragraphs here, and
then we'll discuss our own personal theories, all righty.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
From October seventeen to twenty one, twenty thirteen, they mounted
a four day search. This time one hundred elite rescuers joined,
including the sons of Phil Pembroke. For them, it was
not just a search, but a chance to finally bring
their father home. The mission doubled as a training exercise,
testing teams against the very conditions that had defeated the
(36:44):
original nineteen eighty one searchers. The forest remained as unforgiving
as ever at the end of the four days. Despite
advanced GPS mapping, modern communications, and highly skilled personnel, nothing
was found. More than forty years have passed since the
disappearance of vh MDX, the Barrington Tops continues to hold
its secrets. The disappearance remains one of the most haunting
(37:07):
stories in astray and aviation, A tale of five men lost,
of immense efforts spent in vain, for families left without answers,
and of wilderness that remains as untamed and impenetrable as
it was in nineteen eighty one. The Cessnu's fate has
become part of the identity of the Barrington Tops, a
reminder of the thin line between civilization and the wild,
(37:30):
and how even in the age of radar and satellites,
some mysteries can still endure.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
I think when it comes to the disappearance and why
we can't find it, I think there is a very
good chance that it disintegrated.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
That's my theory as well. It hit a rock or
a tree, or a ravine.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Or something very fast, very hard.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Fell into pieces. Those pieces have been eaten by the undergrowth,
and unless you start burning down the forest, you're not
going to find it. Even if you burn it down,
you may not because it might be buried in it
underneath all the underground.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Again, I just to remind people, I did grow up
in areas that had very, very dense bush There were
more than enough times where bodies were stumbled across maybe
fifteen twenty years after the hiker had disappeared or the
bushwalker had disappeared. You may cast your memories back to
(38:24):
the episode that we did on the disappearance of Near May,
and you'll recall that they never found her body, and
I honestly believe she is probably sitting right at the
base of the blowing dam. So these areas are dense
first and foremost. And when you're talking about the eighties, yes,
(38:46):
you've got radar and you've got other aircraft. Would a
plane disappear today to this extent.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yes, it has happened. The bigger planes have disappeared seventy
three seventy years.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Three to seventy I think is one of the biggest
ones where you know it was there and then it
was gone. Large that was a seven three seven airbus.
I believe Saints was gone, just gone, and it has
never been found, never been found. It should be somewhere
off the coast of Australia, somewhere somewhere out there in
(39:22):
the ocean. Now, obviously we are going to have much
more difficulty finding a plane that gets down around the ocean.
You would expect to be able to find a plane
that gets down around the bush, But you have to
respect the area and the limitations of the technology of
(39:43):
the day. Yes, they had radar, they knew exactly where
it disappeared off Rada. Yes they were able to use equipment,
military equipment to see if they could find the plane.
You know, this day you have satellites that can and
photograph very very quickly. They can be moved into areas
(40:05):
very quickly. They can take photographs, they can do videos.
The technology we have today is amazing. So I think
if the assessener had gone down today, I think you'd
have more of a chance of finding it. The biggest
problem here is that the the circumstances for which the
(40:28):
plane went down the area that they were in are unknown.
You know, we have a rough idea the radar pinged.
We don't know how quickly they were descending. We don't
know what speed they were descending out. We don't know
if they were going to the left, to the right.
We don't know what direction they were cruising towards. You
(40:51):
can send things very quickly, very far away from their
last radar ping. When you're going seven hundred kilometers. Now,
I don't know how fast cesseners go. That's just a
number opull out of my ass but it's going to
be going faster than your average sedan, is what I'm saying.
Without knowing how it went down and in what direction
(41:15):
it went down, there is a good chance of that
fifty square miles may not have been where it went down.
They may not have even been in that area. You know.
It's it's very very hard to tell.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
So assessna's top speed is two hundred and forty kilometers.
Assuming he's not going at top speed, we're going to
go to about one hundred and eighty kilometers an. There's
three kilometers a minute.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
There's a lot of space to go down in five
minutes time. That's fifteen kilometers of space.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
It could so five hundred kilometers in an unknown vector,
in an unknown direction. Yep. It's you know, needle in
a haystack technology. That's sort of what I'm thinking. Although
were taken by aliens.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
I mean, Barrington Tops isn't that far away from Pioliga
of pilagaphorests.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
So do you think that there was some interpersonal conflict
going on with these four men.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
No, I think it was one hundred percent hard. Where
he was talking about losing the artificial horizon, he was
talking about losing his direction. There was a minor fire
in the cockpit, which means that one of the instrument
panels probably sparked and caused a fire. He managed to
put out, but it probably damaged even more electrical systems,
which would have led to more failures, which in a
(42:40):
very turbulent, drafty place five thousand feet high mountains, when
you're dropping to a point where your last reported height
is five thousand feet, it's kind of an open and
shut it's just where it is. That's a mystery, not
really why.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
And it all depends on how much debris was left
to even discover. Yep, you know, could have been a lot,
could have been not much at all, could have been
flung all over the place.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
There was a case of a light aircraft in America
that hit the ground at such an angle. Did it
actually buried itself?
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Really Yes, that's interesting. Holly loves air crash investigations. Yes,
one of her guilty pleasure shows. I like cooking shows.
The problem is that there were sort of there are
lots of different ways that a plane can disappear in
the circumstances through you know, something catastrophic happening to the
(43:35):
plane where it split apart. I mean again like talking
like you mentioned the electronics, Holly, the possibility that it
exploded in the air, I'll be ruled out, especially if
they had a fire on board. Yeah, you know, perhaps
a blue that's a that's also a probability, hailstones.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
There were ice on the wing, which also means that
lift and flying is incredibly hard. That has brought down
quite a lot of large planes as well stalling.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
You know, he was already muddled, didn't know where he
was very good, didn't have his artificial horizon. That's that
little correct me if I'm wrong here, Holly. That's a
little meter that gives you an idea of where the
horizon is. Right.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Yes, So if you look on an airplaf see there's
a little gyroscope of ball that rolls around in liquid
that has blue at the top and brown at the
bottom that will always orient itself with gravity, So that's
your artificial horizon that tells you which way you're planning is. Yeah,
I think it's digital now. It used to be analog
(44:47):
of just a ball floating. I think it's digital now,
but I think they do keep an analog one just
in case.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Probably runs off GPS as well, so those guys wann't
have GPS back in the day. So the answer to
this question is there is no answer, and isn't that
the most unsatisfactory answer of all of them. We will
probably never find that plane, but we say never, and
(45:14):
then they find out who the summonson man was. They
still haven't found the Bermo and children yet though, or
have any idea of who took them. Probably never will,
Probably no, And just like this case, I think we
will firmly place that into the pile of where craft
in Australia cases which are unresolved, never to be sold
(45:36):
forever mysteries. Just like that boat remember the boat episode
we did that disappeared as well the Passonella. Yeah, we've
been invited on a boat, We've been invited to go
well watching that's a different well, you know that Jay
Courtney film that came out this year. I think it
was called Deadly Cat, where he's a serial killer feeding
people to sharks.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
Yeah, A friend of mine said, yeah, yeah, so it's Emily.
I believe you've been speaking to Melissa. Melissa. Sorry, sorry, Melissa,
shout out to you. Melissa. If you're listening to this episode,
don't watch that movie. We don't want to put any
ideas in your head. But he said yeah, and I
said that was cool. At least I get to see
a great white shark once. That'd be pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
You'd see the inside of it.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
I would, I would. Well, ladies and gentlemen. That wraps
it up. We'd love to hear your own theories. If
you happen to be part of the Royal Australian Air
Force and you might have some ideas, or maybe you're
an amateur pilot or know something about local aviation, we'd
love to hear your opinions and thoughts on this. Maybe
(46:43):
there is a really good theory out there that we
could share around. If you'd like to get in touch
with us, you can do some via our social media.
Just hoping we're crapping Australia into the social media search
bar of your choice. We will most likely pop up there.
If you can't reach us on social media, just shoot
us through an email to weir Craft and Australia at
(47:04):
gmail dot com. Just like our avid listener Frank did
to tell me that my taste in music as somewhat
questionable as I am not a massive fan of the Beatles,
but I do love hearing your opinions on my opinions.
(47:25):
It's always fun, no, it is, and Frank's been corresponding
with us for quite some time.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
I like the fact that he threw your words back.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
At he did he did indeed, So we love hearing
from people like Frank and Jane. We love all you
guys writing into the show. It does make us feel
very very special when you take the time to reach
out to us, so please do that. Week Craft Australia
at gmail dot com. Now, before we let you go,
a couple of ways that you can support the show.
(47:53):
Don't forget we have patron friendly five dollars USD a
month you get access to our bonus minisodes as well
as these episodes released to you early and add free.
You can also check out our book series Volume one
to six are available now from our great mate at
Impactcomics dot Au. I believe they will be restocked on
volume one very very shortly, and don't forget the first
(48:16):
twelve copies of volume six assigned by myself and Holly.
So if you'd like to grab yourself an autograph copy,
make sure to hit them up at Impact Comics dot com.
Got au mail and the team are there. They're waiting
for your core. Do you remember the Ghostbusters? You can
also grab a week crap in an Australia T shirt
(48:37):
or coffee cup from the tea public in red bubble storefronts.
Just typing, we crapp in Australia into that search bar,
and as is our custom, we give Holly the final words.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I can't find the name of the flight, but there
was one that did bury itself into a glacier and
they couldn't find it for a very very long time.
That was in nineteen forty seven, so heah. Lots of
planes have gone missing or being completely destroyed over the years.
Looking by this list.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
That I'm staring down right now makes me happy to
go flying, which I'll have to do again next year.
I'll still do it. I know you love flying well,
Ladies and gentlemen, we will leave you there. Please stay safe,
be kind to each other. We'll see you next week
for more Weird Crap In Australia. Until then, bye for
now by The Weird Crap In Australia podcast is produced
(49:42):
by Holly and Matthew Soul for the Modern Meltdown. If
you've enjoyed this podcast, please rate and review on your
favorite podcatching app
A strange, spiraling white light was spotted in the early
morning sky over Sydney, with even skeptical witnesses wondering if
it was a UFO. They were last seen on the
beach with the tall man and that's the best description
police have ever had of it.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
More than seventeen years after Harold Holt disappeared into raging
surf at Chevy A Beach, his widow has finally revealed
his last romantic words docky, terrifying, mesmerizing. That's the way
a number of Australians have described the alleged encounter with
the Yowi.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's time for the Weird Crap In Australia podcast. Welcome
to the week Crap In Australia Podcast. I'm your host,
Matthew sol This is episode three hundred and seventy nine
and I am, of course joined by my researcher extraordinaire
(00:53):
and fellow co host Poly Soul. Hey everyone, so today,
ladies and gentlemen, we're going to territory that I know
very very well, and that is the classic bush mystery.
We have a Bermuda Triangle like situation, the disappearance of
four men in their aircraft as Ladies and Gentlemen is
(01:14):
the story of the the nineteen eighty one Barrington Pops crash. Holly,
take it away.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
On Sunday, August ninth, nineteen eighty one. That says, now
two tenth centurion, all signed VHMDX, lifted off from cool
and Gata Airport on the Gold Coast.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Frequently when we go up to the Gold Coast, Holly,
we often land at cool and Gadda. The last time
that we went to the Gold Coast we went there
to see the Batman exhibition that they held at the
Gold Coast, and that was a lot of the old
props and costumes had a feel films. Yeah, no, it
was great and it was great seeing all that in person, Holly.
(01:56):
I remember the landing in cool and Gata Airport was
probably the roughest landing I've ever had in a plane. Now,
I think I've made this known, but just in case
I haven't. I don't like flying. It is not for me.
I know some people enjoy it. I know that some
people have a pathological fear of it. I don't necessarily
(02:18):
have a pathological fear as long as they don't indulge
in sort of just rampant overthinking. You know, Oh, what's
that noise meaning? What's this mean? I am in a
metal tube thousands of kilometers the.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Land thousands of feet, you know, thousands of kilometers you'd
be off planet.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yay. I'm surrounded by a bunch of strangers and I'm
meant to be asleep around all these people.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well, see that's the thing. Let me just break in here.
You went, yay. There is a height limit, like there
is a in the middle where if we stick you
in that height you freak out. But above or below
that you'd be fine.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, hell yeah, I want to go space. Space is fine.
I have no problems with space.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I can't fall off space.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Well, you can't fall off space. You just float. You
float around in space. My enthusiasm of being an astronaut notwithstanding, Holly,
I don't particularly like flying. And we were approaching the
call and get an airport and it started to get very,
very turbulent, probably the worst turbulence I've experienced, which I
(03:29):
think on the grand scheme of turbulence was actually pretty mild.
But I remember the poor gentleman next to me and
he sort of put his hand on my hand and
He's like, is this normal. I haven't flown for quite
some time. I'm like, it's okay. There's a lot of
cloud we're coming through. It has been storming, there are
high winds, so this is just a little bit of turbulence.
(03:49):
Will be landing and we'll be fine. And internally, oh, internally,
we're all gonna die. Fuck this. Fuck planes. There's Holly,
there's holy not a care in the world, resting her head,
her head on her hand, looking out the window. He
(04:09):
does not give a single shit, does not worry or whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It goes down. I can't stop it, so why worry
about it?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And my other flying story was when we were headed
to Japan. See, I like going to places, and I'm
not going to let phobia help me from enjoying the
things I want. You know, we've been to Europe, we've
been over to Japan and been to New Zealand. All
of that involved a lot of flying. You could go
by boat, I suppose. And we're about to hit pretty
(04:40):
bad turbulence. And I had read a story. It was
a few weeks before we gone on the trip, and
I'd read a story about someone suffering terrible injuries because
of turbulence. You know, they had it been belted up,
they've been asleep in their chair. They got to throw
(05:00):
into the cabin of the roof. I believe they broke
their neck. You know. It was pretty pretty horrific for
that person. And I thought, okay, strap in, I'm all good.
And in front of us was an elderly woman who
jumped into these other seats to sleep. You know. She was, obviously,
like the rest of us, saw a situation, thought well,
(05:20):
I need some sleep. I'm going to jump on these
three chairs. And I repeatedly thought, if they don't see
something and we hit turbulence, she's going to get thrown
straight into the roof. So I'm going to say something.
I was like, excuse me, ma'am, are you okay? I'm
just saying, you know, the turbulence slider is on, you
(05:41):
probably want to, you know, sit up and put your
seatbelt on. It's like blank, staring at me, like slowly blinking.
Obviously i'd woken her up, so I understand that. So
I repeated myself again and again, and I look over
at her husband, who's looking directly at me, and he's
(06:02):
all belted up, and I sort of recalled turning towards you,
Holly and saying, well, I don't I don't know what
to do at this point. I think I've tried my best.
I've tried to be a good Samaritan.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Holly sympathy definitely spiked when she said, oh, well, fuck up.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's It did seemed really weird me out of how
the husband was all strapped in ready to go and
don't think to tell his wife. Maybe he was sick
of I don't know what the story was there, but
air safety is very, very important, especially when you're flying
through mountainous regions. You want to have that belt on
(06:41):
so that if purbulence does heat you're not going to
get thrown into the roof and turned into well, basically
broken spaghetti.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
All like that one guy who just landed in the
roof that had to be helped to climb back down.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah. Yeah, he shot right into the roof.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
He was the panel moved and he just got up there.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah. You don't want to be either of those people.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Kind of my own psa heep he goddamn shoes on
everyone's feet smells. Everyone's feet is sore, especially when we're
on the flight to Europe. And you couldn't move. You
couldn't walk around that much, and you we basically had
our shoes on for like twenty eight hours straight. My
feet were so sore I didn't take them off, so skew.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
You have stinky feet?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
No I don't.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Well, then mind you keep your shoes on if you
don't have stinky.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Feet, because I was in the middle and you complain
when I take my shoes off. But I also think
it's incredibly rude to take your shoes off in a
plane when it's a very small area, especially when three
hundred people fucking do it.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
That was a great flight, though, because I was chatting
to someone who was working on like all these different
NERD productions, which was pretty cool. Yeah, anyway, I don't
like flying for any reasons that I've illustrated.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
The Cessna is a single edged aircraft, a reliable model
often used for private and chatter lights across the globe.
Other says in aircraft we've covered on this show, including
the one piloted by Fred Valentich in nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Well, you're going all the way back to episode two
with the Valentage's disappearance. If you're not familiar. That is
an infamous UFO encounter perhaps where Fred Valentiche reported that
there were lights chasing him and then his aircraft proceeded
to disappear, never to be seen again. What most likely
(08:30):
happened Ockham's raiser situation here is that he accidentally flipped
himself over and happened to see the reflections of his lights,
thinking he was being chased or he was taken by aliens.
It's completely up to you.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I'm not sure which one of those is meant to
be the Ockham's Raiser, but okay.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Path of Lease Resistance Holly and.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We also mentioned as Sesna when the police were chasing
the Kimberly killer back in episode ten.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
They're a good little all arounder. They're a little prop
plane and they have been used for people learning to fly.
If you are somewhat successful and can afford to either
rent or own your own aircraft, it's usually the little
Cessnas that were the I think still are they still are? Yeah?
I think they're the like learning vehicle of choice for
(09:23):
amateur pilots.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
On board this particular Cessna were five men, four passengers
and their pilot, all heading south to Bankstown Airport. In Sydney.
The flight should have taken just a couple of hours,
but instead the plane and its passengers vanished into the
rugged wilderness of the Barrington Tops.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
See this is where I get a little bit confused
about this story, Holly. So are you familiar with the
location of the Barrington Tops?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yes, because I've googled it.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Okay, So the ACT Rescue Services they go up to
train at the Barrington Tops, as well as other New
South Wales personnel. Whereabouts is it? Where is it actually located?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
It's located. It's like a triangle. If you take Port
Moresby and Newcastle and that's one edge of the triangle,
and then you point out west is the point of
the triangle. That's roughly where Barrington Tops would be. So
it's north of Sydney right right, So it's a little
bit south of Dubbo, right.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
So that's hence why they were traveling between Queensland and
Sydney and traveled over e you know. So they're traveling
over that So it's not very close to where we
are right now.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
No, it is not. It's part of the Great Dividing Range,
is just not the southern part.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And why would you deviate that far.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
That is the million dollar question.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah yeah, and we will get to it all right. Well,
that's enough questions for me for the moment, Holle, I'm
going to let you continue on.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
The men were not strangers to adventure. They'd recently sailed
a yacht from Sydney to Prosifine in Queensland, a demanding
journey in its own right. The passengers included Inspector Ken Price,
a well respected officer of the Sydney Water Police, Philip Penbroke,
aged forty three, initially reported as phil Elmbroke, which confused
the hell out of me when I went looking for him,
(11:14):
Brett Boster thirty three, and Noel wild Ash. The pilot,
Michael Hutchinson, known to his friends as Hutchins, was experienced
but found himself in worsening conditions that evening. Together they
set out on a routine flight that quickly spiraled into
crisis and as a quicker side, it's amazing how many
Michael Hutchins or Hutchinson's show up every time I do
(11:35):
a research for weird crap. In Australia, the Sessna departed
from cool and Gatta Airport on the Gold coast at
five oh two pm, and almost immediately Hutchinson began radioing
reports of difficulties the aircraft encounter turbulence and heavy downdrafts,
the sort of erratic weather common around the Great Dividing Range,
particularly in winter.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Well, this is why they refer to this particular triangle
as a sort of Australian Bermuda Triangle, don't they. Yes,
because it is. It's pretty rough and a lot of
aircraft have gotten into trouble around this particular area. Yes,
so again you're not for aware aware, I don't. I
don't know if this is still popular anymore. They used
to be off the coast of Florida, this thing called
(12:19):
the Bermuda Triangle, and that's where a lot of ships
went down.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It didn't go down there, I was transported to a
different dimension.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Perhaps, Holly, perhaps, And because of all of these shipwrecks
and other ships that had sort of found themselves in trouble,
missing aircraft, all that sort of stuff around this particular area,
there was you know, it was ascribe to bad luck
or superstition or perhaps the sacred at the secret city
(12:52):
of Atlantis underneath the water off the coast of Florida,
but most likely what it was was chorl. Reefs are
the reef beds and unfortunate nexus of weather. Sometimes this
(13:12):
is the one thing you know, never abscribe to magic.
What you can explain with science. The problem is that
certain topographical configurations, it's a fancy word for saying, sometimes
rocks in a certain way will create a sort of
scenario where you will get these natural occurrences of extreme
(13:33):
weather events. It has to do with a lot of
different things. I'm not a meteorologist, I'm not a scientist.
I'm not going to be able to be I'm not
going to be able to adequately explain this. I understand
the very broad strokes of the concept. And the concept
is that you know, this particular area is prone to
(13:53):
these weather events because of the way it naturally formed.
You know, lots of dips and gullies, holly like, lots
of forest, lots of rises, lots of mist, lots of
normal you know, rain, foresty jungly sort of weather patterns.
(14:16):
And the reason that you have a forest there is
because there's an abundance of water. You wouldn't have a
forest there otherwise, right yep, So does that make a
bit of sense.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yes it does. I'd like to make a quick correction
of myself. I believe I said Port Moresby. I actually
meant Port McQuary. Port Moresby is in Papua New Guinea.
That's an awfully big frangle. At this point in time,
the plane was traveling over Tari, New South Wales, a
bit south of Port mcquarie, as it radioed in its
first issues. Soon after, one of the plane's key systems failed,
(14:51):
the vacuum pump that powered both the artificial horizon and
the gyroscope, which is basically what tells the pilot whether
the plane is level. For any pilot, but particularly one
flying through cloud and turbulence, this was disastrous. The artificial
horizon is a primary instrument for maintaining level of flight
when visual references are gone. Without it, and with cloud
(15:12):
obscuring the stars and the ground, Hutchinson was effectively flying
blind in the mountains. At seven twenty four PM, Hutchinson
radioed that he had encountered thick cloud your requested permission
to climb to ten thousand feet, hoping to break above
the cloud cover. When you travel on a commercial aviation flight,
(15:32):
you generally travel in the band between thirty and thirty
seven thousand feet. Cessna cannot do that. It is too small,
So generally it will fly in the band between. It
means that the big planes aren't going to smash it
to pieces, but it also means it can maintain it's
pressurized by.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Being that low in that particular area, or is not.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You have mountains to worry about yet.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, so you've got more obstructions, is what you're saying
at that particular band.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, more danger, all right.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And we have a transcript of the conversation between the
Cessna and FIS five. So I'm assuming that Sydney Airport.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
So FIS five is the Sydney people, and then there's
ESV who are the military base?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Sneerbike? All right, Holly, so you can play the airport
in this situation, and why not let's make you the
military base as well. So I'm the Cessna for everyone
playing at home.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Don't do too much screaming yet, it's not at that point.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
All right. And the transcript goes as follows. Sydney Mike
Delta X ray is in the clag in turbulence and
we request clearance to ten thousand from eight thousand.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Okay, Sierra Victor, Sydney, understand the winds at nine thousand
a westerlies about seventy knots. Are there any clouds in
that area?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Negative? There's no cloud at all above eight thousand feet
that's the military base.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
And then FAS five comes back. Mike to x Ray, Sydney,
Echocierra Victor advised a snowcloud above eight thousand feet. However,
the westerly winds are about seventy six knots.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Just to compound a little problem, I lost my APH
and d I and if I could get ten I'd
appreciate it. And also a radar steer to Bankstown.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
No traffic at one zero thousand, report cruising one zero thousand.
Can you maintain a rate of climb without your artificial horizon?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yes, affirmative, I'll go to ten thousand. That's a quote
from Cessna Missing Barrington Tops and twenty thirteen search fear
of landing Sylvia Wrigley the eleventh of October twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Four minutes later, at seven twenty eight pm, search and
rescue protocols were triggered, with the FIS aware that the
plane may make a rocky turbulent or crash landing somewhere
unable to control its flight. Mike Delta x Ray present heading.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Mike Delta x ray is averaging somewhere around two hundred and.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Twenty, and then Sector one steps in two.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Hundred and twenty. Tell him, I don't know what it's
like for cloud. He's in the cloud at the moment,
is he? Yeah? Mate, And he's lost his artificial horizon.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
And he's adf by the sound of things and his
adf Yes, he's got problems. This boy quote.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
From CESNA missing Barrington Tops and the twenty thirteen search
fear of the landing.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
For a moment, it looked as though he'd stabilize things.
At seven thirty four pm, he recorded clearing the cloud lab,
but then added he was carrying us on the wings,
a deadly hazard that adds weight and reduced the lip.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I'll just fix the icing issue, exactly that problem. We've
picked up a fair amount of ice, and I can
just make out a few towns on the post. I'd
appreciate it. Hell, we just got in a down draft.
We're down at about a thousand a minute.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
MDX Roger is the aircraft equipped with Beto heating.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
It's a single engined and we'll try to continue our flightplan.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Roger, the lights are on at Maitland. The lights are
on at Maitland. Say again, Maitland, the lights are on
at Maitland. If you wish to divert and make a
landing at Maitland.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
No, we thought we had a just to compound things,
we thought we had a cockpit fire. But we seem
to have resolved that little problem west Maitland. But would
appreciate it if you could leave the lights on for
a while.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Mike Delta X Ray Wilco.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Cessna missing Barrington Tops and the twenty thirteen search. Now
I'm assuming leaving the lights on is a radio speak
for we're probably going to need further assistance, stay in communication.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
That, but it's also literally leave the lights on the
runway one for us so we can find it. Oh okay,
at this point in times seven point thirty, in the
middle of winter, it is definitely very.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Darn absolutely, especially around those areas.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Hutchin's final transmission came in at seven thirty nine PM,
when he reported flying at five thousand feet. Radar traced
the plane as it drifted northwest of its intended course
about eighty three kilometers from RAAF Base Williamtown, near the
Barrington Tops. Then the signal disappeared. The emergency beacon never activated.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
A NASA instructor was conducting a night VMC dual training
flight in the local area. He diverted to Singleton due
to a wall of cloud lying on a line to
Nelson Bay and heard the exchange between final exchanges, and
heard the exchange between final exchanges between Sydney and mx D.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Unfortunately, that's an editing issue of the source.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
This is from the investigation notes. He remembered thinking that
the pilot's voice was very casual when commenting that his
aircraft was going up and down like something or other.
In detailing other problems he was having, the voice became
more panicky. However, on the last call, which was short
and said only Sydney five thousand or something like that,
(20:59):
it was nearly screen. He heard no calls from the
aircraft after that. The last known radar position of the
aircraft was recorded over Barrington Pops at nine thirty six gmt,
quite from Cessna missing Barrington Tops and the twenty thirteen
search nine.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Thirty six gmt. That's British time. That's the Weld standard
for aviation time, which would put it at roughly the
times I've already given you.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
So first question, why don't we have a military base
out there?
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Because there's a lot of open air and you can
fly aircraft without running into anybody right or over a city.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
So when we're talking about a military base, it's in
that position because it's a good position to be a
defensible position. You can send up a lot of aircraft,
do a lot of training, that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
That is exactly it within ours search efforts began, yet
the Barrington Tops National Park north of Newcastle was a
formidable opponent. A plateau of dense, temperate rainforests, steep bridges
and deep ravines. It is infamous for unpredictable weather winds,
how through the ranger, fog rolls in without warning, and
(22:02):
winter bring snow and ice that can make the terrain
impassable even for experienced bushwalkers. The tops can be unforgiving
for rescuers. In nineteen eighty one, trying to locate a
small white aircraft hidden beneath canopy, it was like looking
for a pin in a haystack.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
The area controller of the State Emergency Services Mister Keith
Watt said that if the men had made to survive
the crash, there was still some chance that they might
be alive despite two nights of exposure and rugged terrain
and freezing temperatures. Police said it appeared that the Cessenat
had crashed in some of the most mountainous area in
the state, known as the Barrington Tops National Park and
(22:40):
the Chester State Forest. Gales yesterday campered the aeri or
search for the aircraft. At least six helicopters and six
fixed winged spotter aircraft carried out a limited search of
the country late yesterday afternoon. Wreckage was cited the amount
pot croaked, but further examination by a police helicopter showed
the wreckage to be several weeks years old. Quote from
(23:01):
the Camera Times at Tuesday, the eleventh of August nineteen
eighty one, page three, slim hope for missing flyers. What's
really interesting about Barrington Tops as well as where a
lot of people in the emergency services go to train
SES and military and the SEES commander that I was
reading about today said that when it came to the
(23:23):
Barrington Tops, if you can search there and make a
real go of it and tick all your boxes. You
can search anywhere in the country.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
The first night, gale force winds grounded several aerial searches.
The next day, six helicopters and six planes took to
the air, flying grid patterns across a ten thousand, six
hundred square kilometer area. Pilot's look for a scar in
the forest canopy, a patch of broken trees where the
cessna might have crashed. Helicopters hugged the terrain at low altitudes,
(23:53):
while fixing aircraft flew higher, scanning white arcs on the ground.
Police and SEES volunteers are preparing to push into the
rainforest if a crash site was located. The reason why
you have your helicopter's closer to the ground is because
they're much easier to maneuver.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
When I was still with the Royal Fire Service back
in the day, some of us were lucky enough to
get air dropped into a fire area to start building
some firebreaks.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Were you one of them?
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I was not, but my friends were the other fire cadets.
Some of those guys got put on a plane, sorry,
a helicopter. It's just about maneuverability and size you know,
vertical left up and down makes it a lot easier
to get an aircraft there. But yeah, no, I mean, honestly, Holly,
(24:44):
you wouldn't have got me on that fucking thing anyway.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I thought it was a little bit out of character,
I will be honest.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
You know. It's like dealing with like I was on
the back of fire trucks. That didn't worry me. You
just don't. I just don't want to be air dropped there.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
You don't fall far from the back of a flag exactly.
That Monday, wreckage was sighted near Mount pock Crow. Hope
surged briefly, only to collapse when investigators confirmed it was
from an old crash unrelated to the missing cessna. The
disappointment was crushing for families waiting on news. The search
(25:17):
only grew from there. By Tuesday, August eleven, the effort
had swollen to twelve helicopters and eleven planes, joined by
the Army, the Air Force, media aircraft, and civilian pilots
offering their services. But there were more incidents to report
in connection to the missing Cessna, including the death of
a helicopter pilot and his two passengers.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
The pilot of a r WAF helicopter narrowly escaped death
last Thursday when his aircraft made of force landing was
killed yesterday when the same machine plunged into a swamp
from about three hundred and fifty meters. Another arter BLAF
pilot and criman were killed. Also, all RAF and ran
Icarus helicopters have been grounded as the result of the
(25:59):
l latest accident. Flight Lieutenant Adrian John Byron, thirty two,
married of the rb AF base Williamstown near Newcastle, was
test flying the aircraft after it had been thoroughly inspected
as a result of last Thursday's incident. It was flying
over the Meadowy, about five kilometers from Williamstown about eleven
(26:21):
forty five am yesterday when the machines plummeted to the ground,
apparently in some sort of nosedeyed noseedown attitude, from which
he narrowly recovered it last week. Also aboard the Icarus
were Squadron leader Derek John Knights thirty two, married of Ipswich, Queensland,
and Sergeant Brian Douglas Wilson, crewman thirty single, of Rosewood, Queensland.
(26:42):
A witness said he believed he saw some sort of
explosion on board the machine. Another is understood to have
reported the machine lost its main roader. In last week's incidents.
There were three AF crew aboard, as well as five
civilians who have been helping them the search for a
missing light aircraft in the Barrington Tops area. The helicopter
was landed in a panic after the last Thursday's incident
(27:03):
and was lifted back to Williamstown by ruble Af Chinook helicopter.
It had been expected before yesterday's crash that the later
B model Icarus would be freed from flying restrictions after
the lifting of the grounding order against the H models
on Monday. The RUBAF has thirty one H models and
thirteen B models, most of which are at least fifteen
years old. The Department of Defense has issued a requirement
(27:26):
for new helicopters for itself. The rain and the Army.
Quote from the Camera Times, Thursday of twentieth of August
nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
The wilderness swallowed everything. No wreckage, no signal from the
emergency beacon, no sign of the five men. By September,
authorities scaled back the official effort, though they never really
gave up completely.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Inspector Rossnicksiith Police Disaster and Rescue Branch said it was
home to have about two hundred and fifty expert bushwalkers,
forestry workers, park rangers and police searching the Gloucester area
on September eighteen, nineteen and twenty. We will be searching
the most probable area, he said. It is extremely barren
and arduous terrain and we have scaled it down to
(28:12):
about fifty square miles, but this is still an extremely
large area to cover on foot. The wooded areas will
be searching are completely impenetrable by air, and although they
were searching by a plane, is unlikely that the Cessna
would have been visible from the air if it was there.
Quote from The Camera Times, Wednesday, second September nineteen eighty one,
page seventeen. Bush teams to seek los Cessna.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Once again, the weather refused to cooperate. Ice, snow, and
gale force winds forced teams back. On September three, hikers
claim to have found wreckage, but when police inspected the
site it proved to be another false league. The months
dragged on. In March nineteen eighty two, a husband and
wife flying over the tops reported what they thought was wreckage.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
The search for Assessa Online aircraft of five people on board,
missing since August in the Barrington Tops, one hundred kilometers
north of Newcastle, were resumed tomorrow following the signing of
wreckage by a Forbes businessman and his wife who flew
over the area on Wednesday. Quote from the camera time
Sunday twenty first to March nineteen eighty two, page three
air search.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
On March twenty third, nineteen eighty two, the official search
was called off. The Barrington Tops had beaten them. For
the families, it was devastation without closure, without bodies to
bury or wreckage to examine, they were left only with speculation.
Some clung to the hope that the men had somehow
survived and were living rough in the wilderness, but as
(29:42):
weeks turn some months, hope gave way to grief. Inspector
ken Price's colleagues and the Water Police mourned a respected officer.
The families of Pembroke, Bolster with wild Ash and Hutchinson
were left with the absence that time never filled.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Philip Pembroke Junior, thirty one steps from his high at
four w four wheel drive, dressed in a superman jumper.
Two hundred kilometers to the south, bushfires raging in the
Blue mountains, but here, at an altitude of fifteen hundred meters,
there's a chill in the air. His mother, Yvonne, and
his half brother, Damien forty six, followed him. The jumper,
(30:17):
hand knitted by Yvonne, belonged to the father. He never
knew that. August nine, in nineteen eighty one changed forever
the lives of these three people, Philip and then the
unborn son, Yvonne, then thirty and eight weeks pregnant, and Damien,
Philip Senior's son from a previous marriage. It's a odd
feeling for me, Philip Junior says, to be up here
(30:37):
looking for a man who I had no relationship with,
but someone who obviously had a profound effect on my
life and who I am. Quote from Barrington Tops refuses
to yield the thirty two year old mystery of the
missing Cessna.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
The fifteen hundred meters altitude is just short of five
thousand feet, so when we were talking about hight earlier,
that's roughly where they were. Over the years, the Barrington
Crash became part of aviation folklore pilots spoke of it
as though it were a ghost story, a reminder of
how swiftly conditions could overwhelm even experienced crews. It was
(31:13):
often described as a Boogeyman case, used in training to
drive home the importance of redundancy in instruments, of respecting
weather warnings, of not pressing on into cloud without visual
or instrumental support.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Nolan tells me that fifteen years ago, after he got
his pilot's license, he was flying a light plane from
Colling Gattter to Bankstown. I sort of overestimated my abilities
and got into a place I shouldn't have been, flying
in the clouds near Barrington, he says. After a nerve
jangling hour, he touched down safely at Singleton. An old
pilot who was there gave him a stern dressing down.
(31:49):
There are five men still up in those mountains who've
never been found, the pilot told him. Barrington Todps refuses
to yield thirty two year old mystery of being missing CESSNA.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
More than that, it became aious because it remained unsolved.
As of twenty thirteen. It was the only major aircraft
disappearance on the Australian mainland since the Second World War
that had not been resolved. There were attempts to break
the mystery. Some families turned to clairvoyance and psychics desperate
for answers.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
And I'm sure they were all provided with the answers
they wanted. We found the missing plane and the crew,
and they solved all the other mysteries in the surrounding
area and returned the Belmont children.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
No, some psychics came of their own volition. They gave
co ordinates, made predictions, but none proved accurate, which Matthew
is very shocked about.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
It's somewhere in Barrington Tops forest area. I see gum trees,
any humidity. I hope that helps.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
I'm getting forests and getting getting clo out.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
These bloodsycking leeches. Me.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I wish I didn't have the morality that I do,
or I'd go out. I's a lot of money doing
this shit.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Yeah, that's probably the biggest piss off, isn't it. It's
like you won't hurt people or do wrong by them,
so you don't engage with it. Look, I'm not going
to tell someone how to grieve. I'm not going to
tell them how like if you're missing someone that you love,
and there's even the slightest, most remote chance that employing
(33:30):
a psychic is going to help in some way, shape
or form. I have no problem with a family doing that.
My problem is people saying that they have abilities that
they do not have and they're unable to produce results,
yet taking money from a grieving family. I just think
that's pretty fucking low. And the reason that I say
that we haven't had any psychics actually do their psychic
(33:54):
business and do it well is because we've talked about
numerous stories where psychics have been employed. Have never, in
the entire history of weircraft in Australia managed to help
solve even one case, whether.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
They be alien or ghost or missing person or murder.
No one ever manages to solve any And.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
You might turn around and go, oh, well, you guys
are biased. We've done seven years of Australian history. There
is literally six books just quick plot book six out
now mates out at Impact Comics dot com to you.
They'll hook you up with the book. Oh there's six
books of austrain history. A lot of them have employed psychics.
(34:34):
We have never once come across any police report that
turns around and says Yeah, this psychic actually helped us.
We'd recommend them in future criminal investigations. Never happens.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
The dense rainforest canopy was simply too effective at hiding
the record. A small aircraft crashing into trees at speed
could shatter, with debris hidden under vegetation or scattered inter
evne mean's impossible to reach. Without a beacon to guide rescuers,
the plane might as well have vanished into thin end.
Three decades later, in twenty thirteen, a new push began.
(35:11):
Brenton Carlton of the New South Wales Bomb Disposal Squad,
intelligence officer Julian Hicks Bushwalker, and wilderness rescue specialist Glenn Horricks,
an Australian Army corporal and pilot Mark Nolan, assembled a
team to re examine the case. Kind of feels a
bit Oceans eleven.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
It does a little bit. Yeah. Assembling your experts, you're
eighteen your avengers.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
They went back to the raw data, flight logs, radar returns,
weather reports and witness statements. Their analysis suggested a new
search zone, a two kilometer by one kilometer stretch of
land at the head of the Williams River, one of
the harshest and most inaccessible parts of the Barrington Tops.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
The intent was stripped through everything. Pull out all the
records and give it our best shot, Carlton tells me.
I took on an advice group and they re examined
everything in a surgical manner. This team included his intelligence officer,
Julian Hicks Porrex, and an army corporal and pilot Mark Nolan.
Quote from Barrington Top's refuses to yield thirty two year
old mystery of the missing cessna. Now we're going to
(36:13):
wrap this up very quickly. Actually tell you what, Holly,
you twoe threw your last couple of paragraphs here, and
then we'll discuss our own personal theories, all righty.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
From October seventeen to twenty one, twenty thirteen, they mounted
a four day search. This time one hundred elite rescuers joined,
including the sons of Phil Pembroke. For them, it was
not just a search, but a chance to finally bring
their father home. The mission doubled as a training exercise,
testing teams against the very conditions that had defeated the
(36:44):
original nineteen eighty one searchers. The forest remained as unforgiving
as ever at the end of the four days. Despite
advanced GPS mapping, modern communications, and highly skilled personnel, nothing
was found. More than forty years have passed since the
disappearance of vh MDX, the Barrington Tops continues to hold
its secrets. The disappearance remains one of the most haunting
(37:07):
stories in astray and aviation, A tale of five men lost,
of immense efforts spent in vain, for families left without answers,
and of wilderness that remains as untamed and impenetrable as
it was in nineteen eighty one. The Cessnu's fate has
become part of the identity of the Barrington Tops, a
reminder of the thin line between civilization and the wild,
(37:30):
and how even in the age of radar and satellites,
some mysteries can still endure.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
I think when it comes to the disappearance and why
we can't find it, I think there is a very
good chance that it disintegrated.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
That's my theory as well. It hit a rock or
a tree, or a ravine.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Or something very fast, very hard.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Fell into pieces. Those pieces have been eaten by the undergrowth,
and unless you start burning down the forest, you're not
going to find it. Even if you burn it down,
you may not because it might be buried in it
underneath all the underground.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Again, I just to remind people, I did grow up
in areas that had very, very dense bush There were
more than enough times where bodies were stumbled across maybe
fifteen twenty years after the hiker had disappeared or the
bushwalker had disappeared. You may cast your memories back to
(38:24):
the episode that we did on the disappearance of Near May,
and you'll recall that they never found her body, and
I honestly believe she is probably sitting right at the
base of the blowing dam. So these areas are dense
first and foremost. And when you're talking about the eighties, yes,
(38:46):
you've got radar and you've got other aircraft. Would a
plane disappear today to this extent.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yes, it has happened. The bigger planes have disappeared seventy
three seventy years.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Three to seventy I think is one of the biggest
ones where you know it was there and then it
was gone. Large that was a seven three seven airbus.
I believe Saints was gone, just gone, and it has
never been found, never been found. It should be somewhere
off the coast of Australia, somewhere somewhere out there in
(39:22):
the ocean. Now, obviously we are going to have much
more difficulty finding a plane that gets down around the ocean.
You would expect to be able to find a plane
that gets down around the bush, But you have to
respect the area and the limitations of the technology of
(39:43):
the day. Yes, they had radar, they knew exactly where
it disappeared off Rada. Yes they were able to use equipment,
military equipment to see if they could find the plane.
You know, this day you have satellites that can and
photograph very very quickly. They can be moved into areas
(40:05):
very quickly. They can take photographs, they can do videos.
The technology we have today is amazing. So I think
if the assessener had gone down today, I think you'd
have more of a chance of finding it. The biggest
problem here is that the the circumstances for which the
(40:28):
plane went down the area that they were in are unknown.
You know, we have a rough idea the radar pinged.
We don't know how quickly they were descending. We don't
know what speed they were descending out. We don't know
if they were going to the left, to the right.
We don't know what direction they were cruising towards. You
(40:51):
can send things very quickly, very far away from their
last radar ping. When you're going seven hundred kilometers. Now,
I don't know how fast cesseners go. That's just a
number opull out of my ass but it's going to
be going faster than your average sedan, is what I'm saying.
Without knowing how it went down and in what direction
(41:15):
it went down, there is a good chance of that
fifty square miles may not have been where it went down.
They may not have even been in that area. You know.
It's it's very very hard to tell.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
So assessna's top speed is two hundred and forty kilometers.
Assuming he's not going at top speed, we're going to
go to about one hundred and eighty kilometers an. There's
three kilometers a minute.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
There's a lot of space to go down in five
minutes time. That's fifteen kilometers of space.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
It could so five hundred kilometers in an unknown vector,
in an unknown direction. Yep. It's you know, needle in
a haystack technology. That's sort of what I'm thinking. Although
were taken by aliens.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
I mean, Barrington Tops isn't that far away from Pioliga
of pilagaphorests.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
So do you think that there was some interpersonal conflict
going on with these four men.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
No, I think it was one hundred percent hard. Where
he was talking about losing the artificial horizon, he was
talking about losing his direction. There was a minor fire
in the cockpit, which means that one of the instrument
panels probably sparked and caused a fire. He managed to
put out, but it probably damaged even more electrical systems,
which would have led to more failures, which in a
(42:40):
very turbulent, drafty place five thousand feet high mountains, when
you're dropping to a point where your last reported height
is five thousand feet, it's kind of an open and
shut it's just where it is. That's a mystery, not
really why.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
And it all depends on how much debris was left
to even discover. Yep, you know, could have been a lot,
could have been not much at all, could have been
flung all over the place.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
There was a case of a light aircraft in America
that hit the ground at such an angle. Did it
actually buried itself?
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Really Yes, that's interesting. Holly loves air crash investigations. Yes,
one of her guilty pleasure shows. I like cooking shows.
The problem is that there were sort of there are
lots of different ways that a plane can disappear in
the circumstances through you know, something catastrophic happening to the
(43:35):
plane where it split apart. I mean again like talking
like you mentioned the electronics, Holly, the possibility that it
exploded in the air, I'll be ruled out, especially if
they had a fire on board. Yeah, you know, perhaps
a blue that's a that's also a probability, hailstones.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
There were ice on the wing, which also means that
lift and flying is incredibly hard. That has brought down
quite a lot of large planes as well stalling.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
You know, he was already muddled, didn't know where he
was very good, didn't have his artificial horizon. That's that
little correct me if I'm wrong here, Holly. That's a
little meter that gives you an idea of where the
horizon is. Right.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Yes, So if you look on an airplaf see there's
a little gyroscope of ball that rolls around in liquid
that has blue at the top and brown at the
bottom that will always orient itself with gravity, So that's
your artificial horizon that tells you which way you're planning is. Yeah,
I think it's digital now. It used to be analog
(44:47):
of just a ball floating. I think it's digital now,
but I think they do keep an analog one just
in case.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Probably runs off GPS as well, so those guys wann't
have GPS back in the day. So the answer to
this question is there is no answer, and isn't that
the most unsatisfactory answer of all of them. We will
probably never find that plane, but we say never, and
(45:14):
then they find out who the summonson man was. They
still haven't found the Bermo and children yet though, or
have any idea of who took them. Probably never will,
Probably no, And just like this case, I think we
will firmly place that into the pile of where craft
in Australia cases which are unresolved, never to be sold
(45:36):
forever mysteries. Just like that boat remember the boat episode
we did that disappeared as well the Passonella. Yeah, we've
been invited on a boat, We've been invited to go
well watching that's a different well, you know that Jay
Courtney film that came out this year. I think it
was called Deadly Cat, where he's a serial killer feeding
people to sharks.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
Yeah, A friend of mine said, yeah, yeah, so it's Emily.
I believe you've been speaking to Melissa. Melissa. Sorry, sorry, Melissa,
shout out to you. Melissa. If you're listening to this episode,
don't watch that movie. We don't want to put any
ideas in your head. But he said yeah, and I
said that was cool. At least I get to see
a great white shark once. That'd be pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
You'd see the inside of it.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
I would, I would. Well, ladies and gentlemen. That wraps
it up. We'd love to hear your own theories. If
you happen to be part of the Royal Australian Air
Force and you might have some ideas, or maybe you're
an amateur pilot or know something about local aviation, we'd
love to hear your opinions and thoughts on this. Maybe
(46:43):
there is a really good theory out there that we
could share around. If you'd like to get in touch
with us, you can do some via our social media.
Just hoping we're crapping Australia into the social media search
bar of your choice. We will most likely pop up there.
If you can't reach us on social media, just shoot
us through an email to weir Craft and Australia at
(47:04):
gmail dot com. Just like our avid listener Frank did
to tell me that my taste in music as somewhat
questionable as I am not a massive fan of the Beatles,
but I do love hearing your opinions on my opinions.
(47:25):
It's always fun, no, it is, and Frank's been corresponding
with us for quite some time.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
I like the fact that he threw your words back.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
At he did he did indeed, So we love hearing
from people like Frank and Jane. We love all you
guys writing into the show. It does make us feel
very very special when you take the time to reach
out to us, so please do that. Week Craft Australia
at gmail dot com. Now, before we let you go,
a couple of ways that you can support the show.
(47:53):
Don't forget we have patron friendly five dollars USD a
month you get access to our bonus minisodes as well
as these episodes released to you early and add free.
You can also check out our book series Volume one
to six are available now from our great mate at
Impactcomics dot Au. I believe they will be restocked on
volume one very very shortly, and don't forget the first
(48:16):
twelve copies of volume six assigned by myself and Holly.
So if you'd like to grab yourself an autograph copy,
make sure to hit them up at Impact Comics dot com.
Got au mail and the team are there. They're waiting
for your core. Do you remember the Ghostbusters? You can
also grab a week crap in an Australia T shirt
(48:37):
or coffee cup from the tea public in red bubble storefronts.
Just typing, we crapp in Australia into that search bar,
and as is our custom, we give Holly the final words.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I can't find the name of the flight, but there
was one that did bury itself into a glacier and
they couldn't find it for a very very long time.
That was in nineteen forty seven, so heah. Lots of
planes have gone missing or being completely destroyed over the years.
Looking by this list.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
That I'm staring down right now makes me happy to
go flying, which I'll have to do again next year.
I'll still do it. I know you love flying well,
Ladies and gentlemen, we will leave you there. Please stay safe,
be kind to each other. We'll see you next week
for more Weird Crap In Australia. Until then, bye for
now by The Weird Crap In Australia podcast is produced
(49:42):
by Holly and Matthew Soul for the Modern Meltdown. If
you've enjoyed this podcast, please rate and review on your
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