From Sydney Morning Herald:

'Icon' crashes into lake
Arjun Ramachandran
December 7, 2007 - 11:44AM

An "icon" crop-dusting pilot is believed to have died after his plane
crashed into a lake in NSW today.

The yellow plane had been scooping water from Lake Liddel near the
New England Highway near Muswellbrook about 9.30am when it crashed
into the lake, said Harley McKillop from Pay's Air Service.

"What can I tell you - we've crashed into Lake Liddel ... the pilot's
in the wreckage and they haven't retrieved the pilot or the wreckage
[from the lake],'' Mr McKillop said.

"This is a huge loss for us - it's our livelihood.''

Despite earlier reports that there had been up to three people in the
plane, Mr McKillop said only the pilot had been aboard the plane when
it crashed.

The plane, an Airtractor AT-802, can only fit one person, he said.

The company, which operates a fire-bombing service, had been testing
new equipment when the crash occurred, Mr McKillop said.

Darryl Gibbs wrote:

RIP Col Pay

Bugger!

__
zb

On Dec 7, 2:47 pm, zb pantsgmail.com> wrote:

Hopefully Ross Pay will keep things running. We worked with Col a lot
and have flown with him a few times. This has been shock to us all.

Brad.

brad wrote:

I knew Col well, and worked with his daughter Helen for a number of years.
He was an innovator in aviation, a true gentleman, and somebody that
deserves legendary status in our trade. He will be sadly missed by all
that knew him, and all those that knew of him :( RIP Col.

God Bless you Col.
You have brought more joy to more people than you will ever know.
We bless you and your family for helping to make this world a better place.
It won't be the same without you.

We wish you a safe journey home.

Graham

A Pilot's Prayer

When this life I'm in is done,
And at the gates I stand.
My hope is that I answer all
the questions on command.

I doubt I'll be asked of my fame,
or all the things I knew.
Instead, did I witness the rainbows
on rainy days I flew.

The hours logged, the status reached,
the ratings will not matter.
Did I notice the sun's rays
on the lakes that scattered.

"TacAN" wrote in message
news:zT66j.21240$CN4.17927@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

Darryl Gibbs wrote:

Sad news indeed.

I wonder if this is what he was doing? It's about the only thing I can
think of with an Air Tractor, a lake & fire bombing.

<http://www.maxair2air.com/07AIR/FIREBOSS/O01.html>

Don H

Thankyou Graeme
We have all lost someone special.
But most especially Col's family have lost their loving husband, father &
grandfather,

If someone in this group could personally give our condolences & our deepest
respects to his family, it would be much appreciated.

Graham

"Graeme Hogan" optusnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:4758fdc2$0$6070$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...

"Darryl Gibbs" bigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:4F26j.21179$CN4.15208@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

"Don Harvie" THISyahooOUT.com.au> wrote in message
news:9lkn25-tl3.ln1@adler.harvie.com.au...

Friggin' hell! How much more dangerous could you get? Lifting 3 tons of
water into the hopper by scooping it up through *floats*! You'd need speed
and a lot of power to lift that amount of water that height and if the
engine gave a splut you'd be upside down before you could blink from the
drag of the water-scooping floats and the weight of the a/c.

Look at JPEG 05 and note the elevator deflection