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Rottnest Island plane crash: WA’s tragic history of aviation fatalities under microscope

Jake DietschThe West Australian
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Plane crash at Jandakot Airport. A VH-POR De Haviolland Chipmunk.
Camera IconPlane crash at Jandakot Airport. A VH-POR De Haviolland Chipmunk. Credit: Jackson Flindell/The West Australian

As harrowing details emerge from the seaplane crash off Rottnest Island, WA’s tragic recent history of deadly aviation incidents has come into focus.

Among the most recent fatalities was pilot Simon Carrel, who died three days after being rushed to Royal Perth Hospital when his small plane crashed at Jandakot Airport in April.

His DHC-1 Chipmunk, a former military training aircraft, crashed as he attempted to land. A witness said the plane had appeared to lose power after it took off.

Two years earlier, an outback nurse was killed when electrical wiring sparked a fire in a small plane’s cockpit.

The pilot, who had flown just 800m from Kununurra Airport, managed to escape, but the nurse and sole passenger, Johnson Makuei Manga, was trapped and succumbed to his injuries.

Mr Manga had travelled to WA’s far north to fill a roster shortage.

Amber Millar died at just 12 years old along with pilot and Broome tourism stalwart Troy Thomas when a helicopter he was flying crashed shortly after take off in July 2020.

Mr Thomas’ daughter Mia, also 12 at the time, and teacher’s aide Maddison Down were seriously injured in the crash.

The pilot’s “high-risk appetite” was later noted by crash investigators.

Father and son Robert and James Waughman were killed instantly when their gyrocopter crashed near Forrest Beach in February 2019 in WA’s South West.

The aircraft plunged 200m plunge into shallow water after its top rotor blades came off in mid-air.

In 2018, a helicopter carrying two pilots crashed off the coast of Port Hedland.

While the check pilot was rescued, Brett Gallard, 44, died when he was unable to escape from the cockpit.

It was later revealed Mr Gallard had not been trained in underwater escapes for nine years.

On Australia Day in 2017, the Skyworks celebrations turned to tragedy when father-of-three Peter Lynch, 52, and his girlfriend Endah Cakrawati, 30, died when their plane nosedived into the Swan River.

The sudden descent of their twin-engine Grumman Mallard occurred in front of tens of thousands of shocked onlookers.

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