On 26 June 2014, a Tecnam P96 Golf aircraft, recreational registration 24-4470, collided with terrain near Krondorf, Barossa Valley in South Australia.
Recreational Aviation Australia (RA-Aus) is responsible for investigating this accident. As part of its investigation, RA-Aus requested technical assistance from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) in the examination of physical components and recovery of data from a GPS unit being used by the pilot. To protect the information supplied by RA-Aus to the ATSB and the ATSB's investigative work to assist RA-Aus, the ATSB initiated an investigation under the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003.
Results of a visual examination of the physical components were provided to RA-Aus on 7 August 2014.
Following examination of the GPS, a download of its data was attempted using the manufacturer's procedures. The GPS unit could not be powered and it was determined that the GPS unit had sustained circuitry damage sufficient to prevent its download by conventional means. Subsequently, the discrete device (chip) containing the track memory was identified, removed, and a raw data file downloaded using specialised techniques. Decoding of the raw information showed that there was no available data relevant to the investigation. A report detailing the download procedure was provided to RA-Aus on 19 September 2014.
