VH-EZX Beech E55
Baron
(c/n TE-820)
N9388Q arrived in Australia
with its pasted-on paper ferry markings a little the worse for wear, as
seen in David Carter’s 1970 photo
(below) at Bankstown. A few weeks
later, the Baron was
sporting its new Australian markings outside the Hawker de Havilland
hangar when David caught
it again. That would
have been around September, the month it was formally
registered. In 1976
–EZW was flying out of Perth
with Civil Flying Services. The registration was cancelled
in January
1979 as sold abroad as
VP-PBF, which could have been the Solomon Islands or New Hebrides. In
any event, it was back on the
Australian register a month later. The next month, March, it was
exported
again, this time to Papua New Guinea where it became P2-GKX with
Talair . The big-engine E55
Baron was a popular choice in the hot and high conditions of PNG.
The Baron returned to Australia
in February 1991, becoming VH-USP. It was wrecked
when it ran out of fuel near Camden on a
flight from Cootamundra to
Bankstown. The pilot had failed to
lock the fuel caps and the fuel had
vented away . He suffered only minor injures
when he came down amid trees on a wet night.