Australian Cattle Baron One Of Four Fatalities In Chieftain Accident | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.14.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.15.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.16.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.17.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Sun, Dec 04, 2005

Australian Cattle Baron One Of Four Fatalities In Chieftain Accident

Pilot May Have Attempted To Go Around Thunderstorms

It appears the pilot of a Piper Chieftain carrying well-known Australian cattle baron Peter Menegazzo and his wife was attempting to fly around a violent thunderstorm when the aircraft went down Friday outside of Condobolin, New South Wales, killing the four people onboard.

The pilot of the airplane was a "reasonably experienced" private and commercial pilot, according to Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) spokesperson Peter Gibson.

The accident claimed the lives of the pilot, a second man believed to be the copilot, Menegazzo, and his wife, Kathy. 

"They may well have been diverting around the weather," Gibson said to the Queensland Sunday Mail. Thunderstorms prevailed along Menegazzo's planned route of flight, he added, and initially hampered search efforts.

Menegazzo's plane had been en route from Brisbane's Archerfield airport to the cattle baron's home town of Swan Hill, in northwest Victoria. The aircraft had gone off course, and its last recorded altitude was approximately 9,800 ft MSL.

CASA is now investigating the accident, including investigating the type of aircraft involved. A second Chieftain went down last July, another Chieftain went down in Victoria, claiming the lives of Queensland property developer Brian Ray, his wife Kathy and pilot Russell Lee.

FMI: www.casa.gov.au

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.15.25): Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach

Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach An approach conducted while operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan which authorizes the pilot of an aircraft to proceed >[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (07.15.25)

“When l became the Secretary of Defense, I committed to rebuild our military to match threats to capabilities. Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.15.25)

Aero Linx: Stearman Restorers Association Welcome to the Stearman Restorers Association. The Stearman Restorers Association is an independent “Not for Profit” 501C-3 Co>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Kjelsrud Gary Kitfox

Airplane Exhibited A Partial Loss Of Engine Power When It Was About Halfway Down The Runway Analysis: The pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane was departing from his pr>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Cessna A150L

The Flight Path Was Consistent With Low-Altitude Maneuvering On June 18, 2025, about 0922 mountain standard time, a Cessna A150L airplane, N6436F, was substantially damaged when it>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC