The wife of a missing pilot in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales says he is an experienced flyer and that the situation has been “heartbreaking” for his family.
Bega Man David Stephens had his plane inspected before he was on his way of Wangaratta in Victoria on Tuesday afternoon, on his way to Moruya on the NSW South Coast.
The 74-year-old has never arrived at his destination and an extensive land and air research is underway at his last known location east of Khancoban in the snowy mountains.
His wife, Lynda Leigh, issued a statement to the ABC and said that Mr Stephens was an experienced pilot and a member of the Hollow Flyers Aero Club van de Kikker.
“Unfortunately, David disappeared on his flight home on Tuesday after he inspected his plane,” she said in the statement.
“It is known that the mountain weather can run very quickly, and we can only assume that he must have seen a road over the mountain not to decide not to return to Wangaratta.
“David has quite a bit of experience flying that plane, but we cannot know what situation he was confronted with, and we will only have answers if they find the plane and with that David.”
David Stephens has been passionate about flying about flying since a young age, seen here with his father. ((Lever: Lynda Leigh))
Frog’s Hollow Flyers Aero Club -President Tony Rettke said that Mr Stephens received his Beechcraft Debonair plane from 1966 in Wangaratta.
“[It would] Just be a small amount of work, the plane was flawless, an incredibly beautiful plane, well maintained, “he said.
“He must have done everything he had to do, only with a basic service, probably an oil change, the usual things that go 100 hours for each other, and he left that afternoon.”
Mrs. Leigh said that Mr. Stephens was an accountant and was only removed from retirement for two months.
She said he was also a well-known Rally Sport-Commentator in the Sapphire Coast region.
“That makes the situation more heartbreaking as his family wanted to spend more time with him after decades of work,”
Said Leigh.
Search
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) leads a search with several authorities to Mr Stephens and his plane and said in a statement that the teams were struggling in “treacherous circumstances”.
“The paths are heavy snowed. It is a very robust terrain and a very steep Alpine site that they try to navigate through,” said Amsa Duty Manager Dan Gilllis.
Heavy snow and robust terrain provide search efforts in the NSW Snowy Mountains challenging. ((Delivered: NSW Police))
The search with several agencies started on Tuesday, assisted by the police of NSW, NSW SES, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and Snowy Hydro.
The NSW police said it was possible that the plane crashed about 500 meters from Dargals trail in the snowy valleys.
Mr Gillis said there were a number of planes that were also looking for the remote area.
The search was proclaimed on Thursday at Last Light to resume on Friday morning.
Limited visibility in the NSW Snowy Mountains hinders search efforts. ((Delivered: NSW Police))
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