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Piper Comanche Wreck - Brisbane Forest Park Location: Located
between Tenison Woods Mountain and Mount Samson Background: This Piper Comanche crashed in March 1977. The pilot was killed on impact. There were no other passengers on board. The aircraft was partially salvaged, and all items of value have been removed. There is no engine, instrument panel, cockpit or undercarriage left at the site. Difficulty: The majority of the walk in is along a graded track which is an old forestry vehicle track. The final 500 meters is through some fairly steep, dense rain forest and vegetation. The return trip can be done as a half day trip, however be prepared to allow time to locate the wreck. Navigation is difficult due to the steep terrain and thick vegetation. GPS coverage throughout most of the trip is marginal with approximately 40% availability due to the dense canopy. Coventional navigation is challenging due to the thick vegetation. There are only a few open spots to get a good GPS fix to assist with conventional navigation. Escape route if lost may be to climb back up to the north west and intercept the main walking track you will walk in on. Map: Sunmap
Topographic Image Map 1994 This is a photographic map with photography and contour information accurate as of 1992. Whilst the contours are reasonable, they do not show enough detail in the area you will be interested in. In particular, the ridges, re-entrants and creeks are not clearly defined in the photo or in the contour lines. Getting There: The following grid references were established using a Garmin Etrex GPS set to the AGD84 datum with approximately 15 meter accuracy. The trip was completed in August 2000 so due consideration should be given to possible changes in track definition and vegetation density. The carpark is located at (755 803), approximately 5.5km North of the Maiala National Park Picnic Ground . Walk 50 meters past the locked gate and look for a track off to the right. Follow this open trail along an easterly ridge. At (760 806), you may notice an old 4WD track which veers to the right, ignore it and continue along the main track straight ahead.. After about the 20 minutes, you will reach a point where an overgrown forestry track disappears to the left and a clearly defined foot trail rises up to your right. Follow the foot trail to the right up a steep rise to a knoll at (769 807). Walk along the main track, at (769 804) look out for an old forestry trailer on the right hand side of the track. Walk 250 meters past the old trailer, and you will reach a fork in the track (770 802), with a sudden rise in front of you, and at this point you need to decide which route you wish to take to the aircraft. When we visited, there was a three inch thick sapling cut off at waist height at this fork in the track. A more defined track rises to your right, and a slightly overgrown track descends to the left. This is where you need to decide which way to go. Option 1: Follow the track down the very steep and slippery slope to the left on an approximate bearing of 050 degrees magnetic. As the slope begins to relax you will intercept a rocky creek bed. From here, make a right hand turn and contour around approximately four spurs (approximately 400 meters) to find the aircraft. The mistake we made was to stay too high when contouring. If you are at what appears to be the tops of the creeks in the re-entrants, you are too high. If you are in more level ground with Lantana, you are too low. You need to be down towards the bottom 1/3 of the slope as you cross the creeks between the spurs. You will find the wreckage just beyond one of the crests of the third, or fourth spur depending on your height when contouring. The wreck lies in the very rough boundary of a rain forest area and more open scrub, however it is very difficult to spot. If you are in more open scrub, you may have gone to far. Unfortunately there isn't much to reference it to so you will have to be patient while searching. The wreckage lies close to one of the largest red papery bark trees (excuse my ignorance) in the immediate area. The wreck lies approximately 20 meters north west of one of the creek beds. So as you are contouring, from this direction you will need to be looking around before you cross the each of the creeks. You may see it more easily from the other side of the creek though.
Option 2 At the fork, continue up the clearly defined track to the right (approximately south east). If you continue along this track, you will eventually end up at the a knoll at (772 797). I don't think there is much benefit going all the way to the top although if you decide to you will find a very large pile of rocks with some tin plates amongst it. Approximately 100 metres before the top of this knoll, there is a flatter area of more open Palm trees with fairly rocky ground and many tree roots weaving on the forrest floor. From this area decend on a compass bearing to find the wreck. You may be able to establish a GPS fix here and calculate an accurate compass bearing to the wreck. From here you will descend down the hill approximately 400 metres to the crash site. I would recommed counting paces as it is difficult to judge your elevation during the descent. The wreck lies approximately 20 meters north west of one of the creek beds. Escape route if lost may be to climb back up to the north west and intercept the main walking track.
The
wreck is located at:
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