POLICE in Queensland have scaled back a search for a former Nowra pilot who disappeared nearly two weeks ago while flying in the Torres Strait.
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While police have started preparing a report for the coroner on the disappearance and presumed death of Brant Aldhamland, friends including Ray Barker from the Albatross Aero Club have not given up hope.
“You’ve got to hold on to hope,” Mr Barker said on Monday.
Mr Aldhamland’s twin engine Aero Commander was flying cargo to Horn Island in Torres Strait when it disappeared 15 minutes before it was due to land.
The 37-year-old had made contact with authorities for clearance to land and all appeared okay, but the plane failed to arrive.
Mr Barker said Mr Aldhamland was a “meticulous pilot”, and only something sudden and serious would have stopped him arriving at his destination.
“Knowing Brant, and all the flying that I’ve done with him, I’d have to say that whatever happened, happened very quickly,” Mr Barker said.
“It would have been catastrophic.”
As the search was scaled down last week, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said there was little chance Mr Aldhamland could have survived a crash into the sea.
“Medical advice is that there is no longer a prospect of survival of the pilot,” the authority said.
The AMSA said 131 aircraft including helicopters and planes had searched from Cape York to Moa Island, an area covering about 2500 square nautical miles.
Based in Nowra for several years, Mr Aldhamland was an active member of the Albatross Aero Club and Nowra Model Plane Club, and was the regular jump pilot for skydiving at HMAS Albatross.
He even became engaged to marry a Nowra woman, however the engagement fell apart after Mr Aldhamland relocated to Cairns in 1999, spending the past decade flying around Cairns, the Torres Strait and Papua New Guinea.
“He knew the Torres Strait area very well and the locals all knew him well,” Mr Barker said.
“He was just a lovely person, he’d help anyone.”
While Mr Aldhamland’s plane disappeared on Thursday, February 24, no wreckage was found until a week later when just a few papers from a plane and a small amount of cargo were located about 80km east of Horn Island.
“It’s still upsetting they’ve found nothing,” Mr Barker said.