1981 Barrington Tops Cessna 210 disappearance
Colville Aviation Services Cessna 210 · Aircraft crashed in an unknown location following probable instrument failure, turbulence and icing
From Proserpine Whitsunday Coast Airport (PPP) to Sydney Bankstown Airport (BWU)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 5 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 5
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Charter & commuter
Cessna 210
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 210
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- VH-MDX
- Operator
- Colville Aviation Services
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From Proserpine Whitsunday Coast Airport (PPP)To Sydney Bankstown Airport (BWU)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 9 August 1981, a Cessna 210 flying from Whitsunday Coast Airport to Bankstown Airport via Gold Coast Airport lost contact after flying into adverse weather. The last known contact with the aircraft was in the Barrington Tops area. Nothing further was heard and no trace of the aircraft or its occupants has so far been found despite extensive searches.
Background
VH-MDX, a Cessna 210, was chartered by four Sydney workmates for a flight back from the Whitsunday Coast Airport on Sunday 9 August 1981. The men had been sailing in the Whitsunday Passage. MDX stopped to refuel at Gold Coast Airport near Coolangatta and took off again at 5:02 p.m. The pilot had submitted a flight plan following the coast to Taree thence inland via Craven and Singleton to Bankstown, a suburb of Sydney.
Disappearance
Shortly after passing waypoint CRAVN, the pilot reported excessive turbulence and downdraft, and that the aircraft's artificial horizon and gyroscopic direction indicator had failed. At that time, the aircraft was identified by radar to be 45 nmi from RAAF Base Williamtown near the Barrington Tops, or about 40 km north-west of its planned track. The aircraft's subsequent course is not clear, but the pilot reported ice accumulation and difficulty in gaining altitude. His final transmission at 19:39 EST indicated that he was at 5000 ft.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1981 Barrington Tops Cessna 210 disappearance” (revision 1340146788, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1981 Barrington Tops Cessna 210 disappearance
- Revision
- 1340146788 · 2026-02-24 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q22093756
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1981 Barrington Tops Cessna 210 disappearance" (page 48548944, revision 1340146788)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17)
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A light aircraft chartered by a group of passengers: a small on-demand charter. The article: "VH-MDX, a Cessna 210, was chartered by four Sydney workmates for a flight back from the Whitsunday Coast Airport"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.