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Last Updated:August 25, 2025, 14:41 IST
On August 2, 2025, a privately owned aircraft lifted off from Georgetown Airport in Tasmania around 12:45 pm and simply disappeared

Even after 22 days, no debris has been spotted, no oil slick detected, and most perplexingly, no emergency locator beacon has gone off. (Representational Image)
Australia is witnessing an unsettling aviation mystery that is drawing comparisons to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. A small passenger plane carrying two people and their dog vanished without a trace on August 2, 2025, leaving behind no distress call, no wreckage, and no clue as to what happened in the skies.
The missing aircraft, piloted by 72-year-old Gregory Vaughan with his 66-year-old partner Kim Warner and their dog Molly on board, took off from Georgetown Airport in Tasmania around 12:45 pm. The couple was headed first to Victoria before continuing onward to Hillston Airport in New South Wales. But somewhere above the Bass Strait, the plane vanished.
By evening, when no word came from the aircraft, the family raised the alarm. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) began an intensive search involving helicopters, police boats, and ferries across northern Tasmania, Bass Strait, and southern Victoria. Yet after 22 days, no debris has been spotted, no oil slick detected, and most perplexingly, no emergency locator beacon has gone off.
Eugene Reed, a flight instructor in George Town, pointed out a critical lapse, “It is a mandatory rule for small planes to inform the air services before leaving the coast. But Gregory did not do so. Not every small plane is monitored in George Town. If someone takes the plane out of its hangar and flies, it becomes difficult to trace it."
The absence of any distress call or emergency signal has left investigators puzzled. Inspector Nick Clark of Tasmania Police noted that Vaughan was not inexperienced. “Gregory was an experienced pilot. He was a prominent member of the local flying club and had a long experience of flying. But, his passenger plane was new."
The eerie silence surrounding the disappearance has inevitably drawn parallels with MH370, which vanished in March 2014 with 239 people on board during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Despite the largest search in aviation history, only fragments of wreckage were ever recovered. The fate of that plane remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in modern aviation.
Like MH370, the Tasmanian disappearance has become a story of questions without answers. Was there a sudden mechanical fault? Did bad weather play a role? Or did something far more unexpected unfold? With no debris and no distress call, each passing day only deepens the riddle.
For the families of Gregory, Kim, and Molly, the wait is unbearable. For investigators, the search continues in one of the most unforgiving stretches of ocean. And for the world, the case serves as a stark reminder that, even in an age of advanced aviation technology, planes can still vanish as if swallowed by the sky.
- Location :
Australia
- First Published:
August 25, 2025, 14:40 IST
News world Another MH370-Like Mystery: Passenger Plane That Took Off From Tasmania Missing For 22 Days
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