Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture => Topic started by: Matthew Delahunty on February 20, 2017, 09:01:50 PM
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For those who haven't yet heard, there was an incident this morning when a private charter plane taking off from Essendon Airport in Melbourne destined for King Island suffered a catastrophic engine failure and crashed into a nearby shopping centre precinct, killing all on board.
It is believed that the charter was carrying a golfing party and there is speculation that it may have included American tourists.
Reports are that Cape Wickham has accounted for all its guests due today but not all Ocean Dunes guests had arrived.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.
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Frightening. May God bless.
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Matthew is correct. Australian pilot & 4 (apparently) US golfers have been killed in this sad incident. The charter company involved was Corporate & Leisure Aviation...not one of the "normal" KI charter operators, as far as I know. We have 1 group down at KI right now & 3 more groups heading off in the next month. Fielding lots of calls right now from nervous passengers.
Only positive from this tragedy is that it occurred before the shopping centre opened & there were no fatalities from those on the ground.
My thoughts are with the families of all those involved.
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Three victims named as Glenn Garland, Russell Munsch and Greg de Haven, all apparently Austin-based. Their trip was apparently arranged, and the plane chartered, by Golf Select, Gary Lisbon's company.
Thinking about all involved this morning.
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I notice that Barnbougle Dunes has posted condolences on Facebook noting that the golfers on this flight were heading there, not to King Island.
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Horrible news.
http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/plane-crash-at-melbourne-airport/news-story/96278ddf2d5cb871f6bad77a17a0d331 (http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/plane-crash-at-melbourne-airport/news-story/96278ddf2d5cb871f6bad77a17a0d331)
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-21/five-passenger-plane-crashes-near-melbournes-essendon-airport/8288964?pfmredir=sm (http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-21/five-passenger-plane-crashes-near-melbournes-essendon-airport/8288964?pfmredir=sm)
http://www.statesman.com/news/tourists-and-pilot-killed-australian-plane-crash/hLTIaan8E5WPkwJmL1DRJN/ (http://www.statesman.com/news/tourists-and-pilot-killed-australian-plane-crash/hLTIaan8E5WPkwJmL1DRJN/)
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/02/20/world/melbourne-essendon-plane-crash/index.html?client=safari (https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/02/20/world/melbourne-essendon-plane-crash/index.html?client=safari)
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I notice that Barnbougle Dunes has posted condolences on Facebook noting that the golfers on this flight were heading there, not to King Island.
They were heading to King Island first, and then Barnbougle later.
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It is interesting how this strikes a chord with we intrepid golf seekers on GCA.com. Of course we all extend sympathies to their loved ones who bid them bon voyage as they set off on a dream golf vacation.
But the reality of the thing is that they could have just as likely (perhaps even greater percentage of likelyhood) have been traveling to a local Austin golf club in a van and had a horrendous crash on the freeway.
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This is very sad and a tragic event. I am not familiar with the pilot or his charter service but have flown many times to KI on 10-seater King Island Airlines planes and each time the flight was smooth and uneventful. Same in the larger planes on Rex out of Tullamarine or Sharp to mainland Tassie.
My thoughts and prayers to all the families and friends of those who passed.
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Thoughts and prayers to my fellow Texans. May you rest in peace!
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I saw this and I wondered, how many people even know there is a golf course on King Island?
I hope that the course is successful and that GCA golfers continue to visit.
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speculation from another Beechcraft pilot that the fuel pump boost was NOT TURNED ON for takeoff
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I've always had a fear of small planes and helicopters. Actually, small planes are safer as they can usually glide to a safe landing. Sad story.
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Quite irrelevant and slightly tasteless that we should be discussing this and reporting on speculation here. Think the thread should probably be deleted.
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Quite irrelevant and slightly tasteless that we should be discussing this and reporting on speculation here. Think the thread should probably be deleted.
I totally agree. What an utterly classless post above. I think at this point the thread has served its purpose. Thoughts and prayers to the families and loved ones of all involved.
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At lunch today at my club several of the people I was with were friends with these guys and some were business colleagues and spoke very highly of them. One of the Dallas National guys new a few from there and we have some people back and forth to Austin GC. To a person they were highly regarded. It is a small world and a reminder that a thread like this has likely been read by family or at least close friends. It sounds like people were appreciative of how kind the Australians have been. I barely knew one of them who used to play at my club but thought I would post the genuine nice things I heard from some sources I know and trust.
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With the greatest respect and compassion to the families of those we lost - I'm not sure its tasteless, but rather an examination of some salient facts. Yes tasteless and baseless speculation happens, that's life but what do we take from this?
The discussion in Australia of this incident, at least amongst the golfing fraternity, aside from the tragic loss of some globetrotting soul mates, was the implication for remote golf?
Barnbougle is accessible from Melbourne with Qantas, and once there, you have a whole state to go and play in afterward - its all very vanilla. King Island on the other hand, is just golf and sheep and only accessible via small charter aircraft.. So there were from the start, always questions about the financial viability given the cost of getting there and then the lack of other entertainment and tourism options once golf was done.
Safety was never part of that discussion at the start, but sadly, now it is, and so as the saying goes, we must deal with the world as we find it, not as we would wish it to be.
I'm no aviator, so I haven't the faintest idea whether small planes are bad or not, but we have all seen "Rainman" and "Qantas never crashed" and so alas this cannot but place doubt in the minds of those timid souls who were thinking of going, but now may not. I was among them, but I'm booking a friggin ticket.
Remote golf works in the US, because its a big country, but you have lots of people. Australia is as big as the US, but with less than the population of Texas so the economics are a bit different
Your remote golf is inland, so driving is always an option. King Island is..... an island, so getting there is tricky. There is a ship, but its only weekly, and even then, its 100 miles across Bass Straight which are the some of the biggest, wildest and most dangerous seas on the planet - just ask the 5 boats that sank and the 6 sailors who died during the 98 Sydney-Hobart yacht race.
Good on them for having a go - so rather than mourn the lost, lets celebrate that they lived well and had adventures. Beats dying in bed any day.