VH-EIZ Cessna 172K
Skyhawk
(c/n 17258494)
Allocated the registration N84494 in the factory, VH-EIZ was shipped to
Australia to be registered to
Cessna agent Rex Aviation in
January 1970. David Carter’s
photograph shows it at Bankstown
soon after it was
rolled out of the Rex assembly hangar. The June 1975 register
showed it registered
to an owner at Gympie in
Queensland. –EIZ was still in Queensland when it crashed at
Toogoolawah,
on 7 September 1996 when it
was being used for skydiving. The overloaded aircraft, with
four para-
with a tail wind, landed long and
tried to take off again. –EIZ snared power lines and
plunged into
the ground. While all on board escaped with their lives, three
were seriously injured. Investigators
were unable to determine if the aircraft's sluggish performance was
connected to an earlier incident
that day when the
Cessna’ prop struck the ground while taxying.