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Cessna 172 Skyhawk.
Construction Number 48144.
VH-TPZ in the front yard of Victor Cattoni's house (with Edward sitting on the house steps) after it's forced landing near El Alamein Road, Abergowrie. The aircraft was painted white with green trim (More photos below). Photograph supplied by Edward Cattoni.
Cessna VH-TPZ forced landing.
Abergowrie, North Queensland, Australia
Submitted by Edward Cattoni.
One summer afternoon in about 1965 my father, Victor Cattoni and I noticed a single engine Cessna aeroplane (VH-TPZ) circling our house at Abergowrie, North Queensland. It was flying no more than about 100 to 150 feet above the ground. We initially thought that it was his brother, Bruno who had his pilot’s licence and had come down low to give us a buzz. However, we became more concerned as this low flying and circling continued for about an hour. There was a lot of low level cloud cover at the time and it appeared that they were flying low to maintain their visibility. The Herbert Valley at Abergowrie is surrounded by numerous high peaks and to people unfamiliar to the area it would have appeared that they were boxed in as if flying around a volcanic crater with no way out. Local knowledge would have dictated that if the pilot had followed the Herbert River course it would have taken him safely to Ingham without any problem. We were later to discover that the pilot was not Bruno and he was flying from Mt Garnet to Townsville via Abergowrie when the cloudy weather set in and he had lost his visibility and reference points. Meanwhile, Victor and I watched the proceedings unfold from the house. It made numerous low passes over our house narrowly clearing power lines and a dead and almost invisible gum tree that was in our chicken run. We were concerned that the pilot could not see the leafless high branches of this tree and clip them as he flew over it. Finally we noticed the Cessna power down and put it wing flaps down as if to land. The pilot had chosen to land rather than fly blind in the low cloudy conditions. He chose a cane paddock diagonally opposite to the front of our house behind Rutherford’s (neighbour) barracks.
The sugarcane at this time of the year was only about 2 feet tall. The plane came in as slow as it could before landing in the paddock but not without incident. We noticed its tail veer up skyward before coming to s stop and falling back to the ground. In the rough conditions the front wheel had snapped off thus causing the rear end to rise. Victor quickly rushed to the Land Rover to drive over to lend assistance. I yelled out, “Can I come too?” but as I was only about 10 years old he was worried that there may have been some serious injuries so he drove off without me. Victor rushed through the sugarcane paddock with the Land Rover and fortunately, although shaken, both pilot and passengers were already standing outside the plane inspecting the damage. Victor then drove them home to have a cup of tea. They were not too keen on the tea but quickly took to the whiskey which seemed to go down real well. After telling us of their ordeal they rang Townsville (DCA) to report their problem. They were from the CSIRO and were grateful for the assistance so Victor drove them to Ingham. Later, with the assistance of some Ingham Aero Club members we retrieved the aeroplane and parked it at the front of our house on the lawn. All the passers by could not believe their eyes as they drove past and a few necks were stretched further than usual. The wings were removed and the whole plane was loaded into the back of a truck which transported it back to Townsville to be repaired and rebuilt. Some time later, after it had been repaired, his brother, Bruno, later took Victor for a joy flight in the same Cessna (VH-TPZ).
VH-TPZ. Photograph supplied by Edward Cattoni.
VH-TPZ. Photograph supplied by Edward Cattoni.
VH-TPZ. Photograph supplied by Edward Cattoni.
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