Residents of the Williams Creek area availed themselves to search and rescue procedures yesterday afternoon, when a light plane (Jabiru) made an emergency landing approximately 48 kilometres North West of William Creek on Anna Creek Station. 

“The occupants were very lucky”, said Trevor Wright of Wright’s Air who was involved in the rescue. They didn’t know exactly where they were and had no food or water.  They didn’t even have a survival beacon and if Richard, one of our pilots, hadn’t been listening to that particular frequency on the radio, they may have been very difficult to find once they came down”.

64-year-old Sam Moncur from Victoria was piloting the Jabiru with his 22 year old son Vaun Moncur as a passenger.  Mr. Moncur radioed a distress call after the engine on the light aircraft failed north west of William Creek.  Mr Moncur was able to glide the aircraft across a creek bed, landing on Anna Creek Rd.

After hearing the distress call on radio, Richard Newman a pilot at Wrights Air flew out and dropped three litres of water to the stranded men while they waited to be rescued.  Richard was assisted by the William Creek Pub owner Bruce Ross.

Fortunately help was swift and the two men were not injured in the ordeal.  The pair were transported to William Creek after midnight by police who attended from Marree and with the assistance of the Anna Creek station manager.

Trevor Wright the owner of Wrights Air based in William Creek said, “with the temperatures in the outback expected to reach into the 40s on Thursday, things could have been much worse, particularly as the area here is as inhospitable as you will find”.