On the night of 18 November 2009, a Pel-Air IAI Westwind 1124A (VH-NGA), flying a medical evacuation from Samoa to Melbourne, was unable to land at Norfolk Island in poor weather and, low on fuel, ditched in the sea about 6.4 km west-south-west of Norfolk Island Airport. All six people on board – the two pilots, a doctor, a nurse, the patient and her partner – survived and were rescued by local fishermen after about 90 minutes in the water. The accident and the original ATSB investigation became the subject of a Senate inquiry and a re-opened investigation.

The aircraft sank and came to rest on the seabed at about 48 m, roughly 4.5 km west of the island. A March 2015 survey by NSW Police and Australian Federal Police divers found it largely intact: both wings, both engines, and the rear fuselage and tail were still attached, with the tail section partially buried by moving sand. The flight recorders were retrieved from the wreck on 11 November 2015. Bounty Divers, the Norfolk dive operator at the time, posted footage from reconnaissance dives at 40–45 m, reported the fuselage in two pieces at 54 m, and filmed a shark on the wreck.

For divers, the Westwind is a deep technical dive on a modern aircraft wreck of historical interest in Australian aviation safety. It lies well beyond recreational limits, in open water off an exposed coast, and there is no chamber on Norfolk Island – any decompression illness would require a long aeromedical evacuation. It is not on any operator's regular list and would need to be run as a self-sufficient technical expedition with local boat support.

The wreck's exact position is not published and it may be treated as a site of significance; divers should seek advice from Norfolk Island authorities before attempting it and must not remove anything.

Norfolk Island is about 1,450 km east of Brisbane; flights run from Sydney and Brisbane (about 2.5 h; check the current carrier). A hire car is essential. Norfolk has no harbour: Norfolk Island Diving's open boat is lowered by crane from Kingston Pier (south coast) or Cascade Pier (north-east coast), whichever is in the lee of the day's wind, and divers board from the pier steps once it is in the water.

The site's position is not published; Norfolk Island Diving chooses Kingston or Cascade Pier according to the wind, and most sites are 5–20 minutes from the pier.

Norfolk sits in the south-east trade wind belt. South-easterlies (strongest May–September) make the south coast and Kingston launch rough, and dives move to the north coast from Cascade; northerlies (more common in summer) do the reverse. Any swell over about 1.5–2 m on the exposed side stops the crane launch.

Visibility is typically 20–40 m. There is no stinger season; ex-tropical lows occasionally bring big seas in summer–autumn. Where this site sits relative to those exposures is not published – ask the operator.

Technical dive only: descend a shot line placed on the wreck to about 48 m, survey the wings, engines and rear fuselage without entering, and begin the ascent at the planned runtime, completing decompression on the shot or a drifting deco station.

Trimix recommended at 48–54 m (e.g. 18/45 or similar) with nitrox/oxygen deco; significant decompression obligation; full redundancy; no penetration. Plan conservatively given the absence of a chamber.

No regular operator – would require a self-sufficient technical team with local boat support; Bounty Divers (historic operator) conducted reconnaissance dives.