At about 1815 on Friday 6 September the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) was contacted by Williamtown air traffic control, who reported that a Helicopter had disappeared from radar about four nautical miles south of Fingle Bay near Port Stephens.
The helicopter is a Bell uh-1/B205 and there are believed to be five people on board.
AMSA coordinated the search for the missing aircraft with multiple aerial and surface assets deployed to a search area including rescue helicopters, AMSA’s challenger search and rescue jet, Volunteer Marine Rescue and NSW Police vessels.
The search was focused on an area of about 150 square nautical miles where the radar signal was lost.
Weather conditions in the area at the time the aircraft went missing were poor with strong winds and reduced visibility. Air traffic control indicated that the aircraft was rapidly losing altitude when contact was lost, there were no detected emergency beacons signals or Mayday calls.
AMSA understand the helicopter was on a private flight between Coffs Harbour and Bankstown.
During searches on Friday night aircraft sighted an oil slick and a number of pieces of debris which were unable to be recovered due to weather conditions but were in the area consistent with the aircraft’s last known position.
When searching resumed at first light on Saturday morning two positive sightings were made.
At about
