A woman has claimed she used Google Maps to find the wreckage of an aeroplane that vanished without a trace while carrying five people almost 40 years ago.
The anonymous plane-spotter shared a legitimate Google Maps image of an aircraft next to Mine Creek in Barrington Tops National Park in New South Wales.
The location is where Flight VH-MDX vanished without a trace on August 9, 1981.
The case is Australia’s only unsolved civil aviation incident since World War II.
A woman claims she used Google Maps to find the wreckage of an aeroplane (pictured) that was carrying five people when it went missing almost 40 years ago
The plane (pictured) was a single-engine Cessna 210M piloted by Ex-RAAF commercial pilot Mike Hutchins
Barrington Research Group (BRG), which is dedicated to finding the missing plane, said they were aware of the image but it is not the missing plane.
‘This image is a classic example of an airborne aircraft being snapped by the satellite camera,’ their website said.
‘An aircraft is unlikely to rest within the Barrington Wilderness Area in such a near perfect condition as shown in this image.
‘The shadow of the aircraft is also visible on the ground.’
BRG explained that Google Earth imagery is unlikely to detect the VH-MDX because the wreckage is beneath tree canopy and the image resolution is not high enough.
Ken Price, Rhett Bosler, Noel Wildash and Phillip Pembroke (bottom four, left to right) have not been found since flight VH-MDX went missing on August 9, 1981
It comes before a renewed search for the mystery plane wreckage begins.
Four friends Ken Price, Noel Wildash, Rhett Bosler and Philip Pembroke were returning to Sydney from a holiday on the Whitsunday islands on flight VH-MDX.
Ex-RAAF commercial pilot Mike Hutchins was flying the single-engine Cessna 210M when it went missing.
Another search for the wreckage using drones will be launched in May.
Yvonne Pembroke, the widow of one the missing men, is ‘intrigued that people are still trying to resolve the mystery’.
‘The next expedition is in mid-May,’ she said to 7News.
The national park where the plane went missing is part of the Great Dividing Range, Australia’s biggest mountain range.
The area is known for its rugged and unspoilt mountains full of dense forests and deep gorges.
The light plane went missing over Barrington Tops National Park (pictured), in New South Wales, 40 kilometres north of Newcastle
Price, Wildash, Bosler and Pembroke had booked the chartered flight from Prosperine, Queensland to Bankstown Airport in Sydney.
Pilot Mike Hutchins had 3,412 hours of flying experience and 28 hours with the Cessna 210.
The plane refueled in Coolangatta and continued at 5.01pm on the Sunday afternoon.
The flight’s audio recording reveals that Hutchins ran into clouds and turbulence at 7.19pm.
At 7.34pm Hutchins reported that ‘we’ve picked up a fair amount of ice and I can just make out a few white towns on the coast’ after leaving the cloud.
The plane (pictured in a recreation) lost altitude due to bad weather and picking up ice after passing through a storm
‘Oh hell, we just got in a downdraught now and we’re down at about a thousand a minute,’ he said.
‘We’re up and down like a yo-yo.’
‘We’re losing a hell of a lot of… We’re down to six and a half (6,500 feet),’ he later said.
‘The lowest safe in that area 6,000 at this time. If you can continue heading towards the coast, towards Williamstown sir.’
‘Five thou-‘ was the last recorded message from Hutchins 7.39pm before Air Traffic Control lost contact with him.
A 10-day search after found nothing.
The plane was trying to head toward Williamstown and the coast to get out of the storm but never made it
Entrepreneur and former Civil Aviation Safety Authority chairman Dick Smith said in 2014 the plane was rerouted into a storm to avoid military airspace.
The RAAF in effect sent these five people to their deaths,’ he told Channel Seven’s Sunday Night program.
RAAF chief Air Marshal Geoff Brown refuted Mr Smith’s claims in a statement.
‘Air Force cannot speculate as to why the pilot of VH-MDX chose to not fly through Williamtown airspace, as was done by numerous other civilian aircraft at the time of the accident,’ he wrote.
The search for VH-MDX will resume in mid-May.