VISCOUNT CRASH

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27496, 2 November 1954, Page 13

VISCOUNT CRASH

First Officer’s Account (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)' (Rec. 10 p.m.) MELBOURNE, Oct 1. A survivor of yesterday’s Vickers Viscount crash said today that the plane had “behaved beautifully” when he piloted it earlier in the day. Seconds before the plane hit the ground he was in the cockpit yrith the three pilots who were killed. In an interview from his hospital bed, the first officer, Captain George MacDougall, of New South Wales, said Captain Raymond Fisher was taking the plane off on three engines under instruction from Captain Douglas Macdonald, both of whom were killed. “Suddenly I sawHrees below coming closer. I realised we couldn’t clear them. The plane seemed to stall. Perhaps it hit a tree,” he said. Captain MacDougall dived through the back door of the cockpit leading to the passenger cabin. The plane broke apart just behind this door. The other man killed was Captain John William Nickles. The three were senior captains of Trans-Australia Airlines. The chairman of the Australian National Airlines Commission (Mr G. P. N. Watt) said the accident- was essentially a training accident. There was nothing to suggest any loss of confidence in the Viscount. In London, Vickers Armstrongs announced that the company’s chief test pilot (Mr G. R. Bryce) would fly to Australia to assist in the investigation into the crash.

The ‘“Daily Express” said today that until the Australian crash nobody had ever been injured in a Viscount, which first went into service—with British European Airways—in April, 1953. There are now 37 Viscounts, which have flown 50;000 hours in airline service. Vickers Armstrongs have orders for 155 Viscounts on their books.