24 November 2011

20th September 1964

Alert on OH-MOC, last known position 53n 50.40w 19/2100.

This was the first serious alert I copied on HF, which all kicked off around mid-day on the 20th.
This Mooney M.20 delivery flight was en-route from CYPM/Pikangikum, Ontario to BIRK/Reykjavik and its last known confirmed position was at 53n 50.40w (as above). There was also another Mooney delivery on that day from the same departure point, D-EHNI.

Based on a subsequent review of the Ballygirreen air-ground supervisor logs, it seems at 0944 Keflavik advised '4YA' (Ocean weather ship 'Alpha') that Speedbird 065 was in contact with D-EHNI, on 121.5VHF  at 0900 but his exact position was unknown. However they had no contact with OH-MOC. By 0931 D-EHNI's position was reported as one hour east of Keflavik, with an endurance of 03+30. However BA065 believed this position to be in error, BA065 was at 57.28n 30w 0845, estimating 57n 40w 0945.
At 1332, another Speedbird flight (BA605 at 60n 30w 1304) advised VFG (Gander) he was in comm's with D-EHNI for the past half-hour, as were the two search aircraft. (No details!)
At 1451 (TFW) Reykjavik advised that D-EHNI was still airborne, flying to Keflavik in contact with the air rescue aircraft.
At 1548, MYB (Prestwick) advised the flight (OH-MOC) had ditched 30 miles off Keflavik and that the pilot was seen to be clear of the aircraft.
At 1942, Reykjavik reported there was still nothing on the aircraft, OH-MOC.

Sadly nothing further is revealed in the diaries on this incident but hopefully the pilot was recovered OK. Extract from Shannon Aeradio diaries reproduced below:-

 

On subsequently reading the April 1965 issue of "Air Pictorial", it reveals that OH-MOC was never officially registered as it was lost at sea off Iceland on a delivery flight with another Mooney, D-EHNI on 20th September 1964. Sadly no details on the fate of the pilot are provided.

VVV 49794 reported 100 nautical miles out of Keflavik 1558 F200 63n 30w 1617 , ETA Goose Bay 2003

US Navy C-130T, 149794, c/n 3661, delivered March 1963. Assigned to VRC-50, Andersen AFB, Guam, as of July 1992. Damaged by Typhoon Omar, Guam on 27/08/1992 - broken up, August 1994.

3 comments:

  1. Interesting post, considering Pikangikum is a small, remote Aboriginal community in northern Ontario, with no all-season road access. One wonders why the two Mooney's would have stopped there, considering there would have been very little airport infrastructure there at that time (unless these were float planes?).

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  2. Thank you for your comment, which has prompted me to research this further. Despite the logs from Shannon Aeradio showing an ICAO of CYPM, I have since established that their departure point was in fact St. Pierre (LFVP) near Newfoundland. This makes more sense and thanks again for noting this!

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  3. Just noticed that the ICAO for St.Pierre is also quoted as CFSP, per ICAO Doc 7910/47 dated March 1986.

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