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A New Zealand pilot, his wife, their son and the son's girlfriend are missing after their light plane disappeared after taking off from a Melbourne airport. An extensive air, land and sea search across two states yesterday failed to find any trace of the missing plane.
The pilot is Geoff Milne, a former New Zealand-based agricultural operator.
The twin-engine Cessna 337 Skymaster, registration VH-CHU, left Moorabbin airport at midday on Saturday bound for Merimbula on the NSW south coast but failed to arrive around 4pm as planned.
Mr Milne was taking his son to meet a NSW-based flight instructor, a friend of the man said yesterday.
Merimbula airport spokesman Andy Campbell, who sold the Skymaster to Milne earlier this year, raised the alarm after the plane failed to arrive.
"I was expecting to meet them yesterday afternoon, and he [Geoff] was bringing his son up here to possibly learn to fly.
"They were going to meet an instructor here at Merimbula," Mr Campbell said.
"When I arrived here, I didn't see their plane, so I rang the Moorabbin air traffic control tower."
Mr Campbell said the 30-year-old plane left Moorabbin and Mr Milne had planned to head for Wilson's Promontory but the aircraft disappeared off the radar screen.
"That's quite normal - it doesn't mean they've crashed, just means they're out of radar," Campbell said. "Then they were supposed to track up to Lakes Entrance and Ninety Mile Beach before following the coast to Merimbula."
Aviation consultant Lincoln Robinson said if the Cessna had crashed, its emergency locator transmitter, which all aircraft are required to be fitted with, should have activated, transmitting the location of where it went down to authorities.
"It could have either not been fitted, or it could have been damaged," Robinson said.
He said the transmitter could also be manually activated, leading him to believe that if the Cessna had an ELT it may have been broken.
Last night , a search led by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority was being centred on an area between Orbost, in Victoria's southeast, and Merimbula.
Spokeswoman Tracey Jiggins said there had been credible radar reports overnight from air traffic control of the last known position of the aircraft, indicating it may have been in the Orbost area.
The reports were unverified but matched the time, track and speed of the aircraft, she added.
"In terms of pinpointing the exact location, that's still a bit of difficult until the weather improves or any sightings are reported," she said.
Bad weather in the area had hampered the search from first light yesterday, she said.
Moorabbin airport manager Phil McConnell said the Cessna was routinely kept at the airport.
"There are 350 aircraft - fixed wing, helicopters and jets - based on the airport, but I believe [the Skymaster] was only being used for private purposes," he said.
"We got a call last night to say that it had not arrived at its destination but we checked and it did not come back here."
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority listed the aircraft's registered operator as GJ and MH Investments, while the Australian Business Register lists GJ and MH Investments trading as Culligan Water.
- AAP
