"BernieFlyer" gmail.com> wrote in message
news:IN6dnVhqgMzy4FLVnZ2dnUVZ_tzinZ2d@westnet.com.au...

Yeah....... Our 2nd best pilot (went to Ansett) got loaded up with ice in
a C182 in that general area about that time. Couldn't maintain height but
fortunately the rate of descent was less than the rate of descent of
terrain, so got away with it. Ended up on the ground at Tamworth with over
an inch of ice still on the leading edge. Was very pale for a week or so.

The crash area is about where I described (on this newsgroup some time ago)
we tried to do a salvage in about 1968. A C172, pilot only, in cloud, on
cruise, hit the LHS of the top of a peak. The initial impact took off the
stbd wingtip and stbd u/c leg, slewing the a/c to the right whence it went
between 2 trees about 15 ft above the ground. That impact ripped the engine
out and flipped the generator shaft and commutator (from the back of the
engine) into a tree trunk, like a dart, about 50 ft further on and 30 ft
above the ground. In the meantime the fuse splatted onto the ground. The
pilot stepped out (he didn't have to step down - the cabin floor was at
ground level by then), grabbed his briefcase and walked downhill, eventually
finding a fence. He guessed the correct direction (this was still in cloud)
and arrived at a farmhouse.

We couldn't salvage anything - too high for local helis and too far to lug
stuff out manually because you couldn't get a 4WD anywhere near it.