AIR INQUIRY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 19, 24 January 1938, Page 10

AIR INQUIRY

RONGOTAI CIJASH

INSTRUCTOR'S EVIDENCE

CHOICE OF CIRCUIT

An Inquiry into the death of Ridley ' Lcndcryou Elliott, who was killed in an aeroplane crash near Rongotai ' Aerodrome, shortly after 6.30 p.m., on * December 3, was held by an Aviation 1 Board,'consisting of Mr. W. P. Stil- > well, S.M., Squadron-Leader H. B. Bur--1 rell, R.N.Z.A.F., and Commander A. " G. Gerrand, of Union Airways, Pal--1 merston North. ' Dr. N. A. Foden conducted the in- : quiry on behalf of the Air Board, - and Mr. A. M. Ongley represented Wil- • Ham Smillie, pilot of the machine. The aeroplane crashed on the Miral mar golf links shortly after leaving Rongotai Aerodrome, en route for Palmerston North. The aeroplane was the xMiddle Districts Aero Club's Moth ZK—ABV. Elliott was a passenger. Frederick Lionel Truman, instructor to the Middle Districts Aero Club, said that he was a pilot of some experience, having been a B licence pilot for eighteen months and having spent seven or eight years in the Royal New Zealand Air Force. He possessed an instructor's certificate and was at present engaged as an instructor at Milsom Aerodrome, Palmerston North, where he had been for the past six months. He trained both Smillie and! Elliott. He stated that Smillie had j had eighteen hours', dual instruction and forty hours 5 minutes' solo flying experience.Smillie's training, he said, had commenced on July 7, 1937, and he had had his first flight on July 30, after 9 hours 40 minutes' dual instruction. On August 31 Smillie was accepted as a member of the civil reserve of pilots and on October 1 he was issued with a pilot's A licence. ... S SOLO FLIGHTS. , Witness said he was aware that Smillie's licence had ' been endorsed during October for carrying passengers. On September 23 Smillie had flown to Wanganui and back; on September 29 to Hastings.and back;,and on October 7 to Masterton and back. On November 13 he flew again to Masterton and back. ■ All the flights were solo/except for the last cross-country flight (a short one of fifteen minutes), when he carried a passenger. : The pilots at the aerodrome had been notified of the circulars relating to circuit rules, which had -been issued, on September 13, 1937, It was understood that pilots were to \read such notices to airmen before proceeding on cross-country flights. , , . Dr. Foden: Was the notice on the notice board, drawing the attention of pilots?, ■ Witness: Notices were kept on files in the pilots' room. • Dr. Foden: What steps are taken to see pilots refer to, this system?— The club rules>-state that pilots; must acquaint! themselves with . Dominion notices to airmen before flying. The notices are conveniently, and readily available to pilots, and it is their own responsibility to refer to them before they'go. If I ■am present I remind pilots of these', notices, particularly those pilots -who have had little experience. , . • "■ , . The witness .went on to say that he knew Smillie was in Wellington, but did not know, that Elliott had flown down from Palmerston North to pick him up. He stated that in his absence from the aerodrome (which was the case on-this occasion), the ground engineer was responsible for the crosscountry flying. The first he knew'of the flight was when he heard of, the crash, but if he had been present and the weather report had been good, he himself would have authorised the flight. -, y ■ ■ t ■ : CONDITIONS AX RONGOTAI. A plan of Rongotai aerodrome was produced, and the route taken by Smillie was described by witness as being "rather silly." Turning down the wind into the south, he said, would be a rather risky thing to do, in view of the hills and Moa Point, which caused a down current of wind. '. "*' "If I had been in the same position, I would have turned out over the, bay," he said. He agreed, in answer to a question from Dr. Foden, that the loss of horizon involved would play an important part in turning in the case, of pilots of little experience. In reply to Mr. Ongley, he, stated that the majority of circuits at New Zealand aerodromes were left-handed, although at Rongotai the circuit was dependent upon the prevailing. wind. However, the circuit to be used was displayed at Rongotai by means of a panel. ■ Mr. Ongley: In this case we know the pilots were changed at Rongotai and only remained there a matter of a few minutes. If brought in on the left panel on that... occasion, would.it have been natural for Smillie to go out on a left-hand circuit? • , • Witness: I presume so. Is it usual for anyone at an aerodrome to give instructions to" a pilot going out as to what circuit he should take? —It is not a general practice. I have always had to find but for myself. '■■.-. Do you"- think Rongotai rather exceptional for landings and departures? —Yes, I consider it rather a tricky place in certain winds. If the aeroplane had landed on the wrong circuit, should it have been anyone's duty to draw the pilot's attention to it?— Yes, I think so. ' Witness said that Smillie and Elliott should have known the local circuit rule at Rongotai. '■■ PILOT GIVES EVIDENCE. William - Smillie, aged 19, pilot of the machine when it crashed,' described the various telegraphic and telephonic communications ' which eventually led up to flying down to Wellington on that particular night to 'pick him up. H§ said he arrived at Rongotai aerodrome in time to see the aeroplane circling the 'drome, but he was unable to say what line of flight the machine had been on previously. They eventually took off. after seven minutes' wait at Rongotai. -The time was approximately 6.40 p.m. Mr. Foden: Why didn't, you look at tlie circuit sign? Witness: I assumed it to be the left circuit. Witness, in 'reply to a question from Dr. Foden, stated that Mr. Truman was a particular and thorough instructor. He said he did not run the engine of the machine up before taking off. Witness said he noticed that the revolutions were approximately 1850 just after leaving the ground. He took a wide climbing turn to the left, after attaining a height of approximately-200 feet, when he eased, the throttle back. He imagined the speed before turning to be about 60 m.p.h. He could not remember what his horizon was before starting the turn: He said he remembered heading straight up Evans Bay after taking a turn through approximately 180 degrees; designed to bring him on his • ordinary course. The machine was bumping about a bit, f turning to the left, and he turned the 1 i stick to the right, and the left wing 1 dropped. ' Dr. Foden: The bumping was con- i

nistont with the dov/n draught from the hill, I lakeit? Witness: YesAftei' the wing dropped and "'you moved the stick to the right, what did (you do?—/ cnrinot remember, J/e admitted that the machine was out of control and that he could not hand 16 it, There was no conversation between him find Elliott from the time I of taking off till the aeroplane crashed, LATENESS* OF FLIGHT. Dr. JPoden: Isn't thero a rule prohibiting flying after sundown? Witness: I have never heard of it. Witness said that they desired to get back to Palmerston North without any waste 0/ time, although he did not consider that the darkness would in any way have been dangerous. After further discussion regarding the sundown rule, Dr. Foden asked witness: You are not putting foirward either the bumping or the dropping of the left wing as the cause of the crash, are you? ~..-. Witness: No, sir. . Reginald William Roots, an engineer's assistant at Rongotai aerodrome, said he had seen the aeroplane land when it.arrived at.the aerodrome form Palmerston North. It had made a good landing and there was no indication of anything being wrong with the machine as far as he could see. The engine was kept running all the time, about five ot six minutes, ancL it seemed to be functioning well. When the plane, took off, it appeared as though it was flying in a slightly tail-down position, as though it were tail heavy, and it seemed to be sinking or "squashing." Then he saw it make a steep turn to the left and spin back into the ground. . Witness said that he could tell when a Machine stalled but he had not seen the machine commence its spin immediately after it had made the steep left-hand turn. When he saw it last bfore the turn to the left it had been in normal flight, except that the tail was a little down. On the day of the crash the flying conditions were normal, said Mr. Claudius William Roots, officer in charge of the aerodrome. The minimum wind gust had been 14 m.p.h. and the maximum 28 m.p.h.' The wind was from the south-south-east and was steady. "There Was no peculiarity about Rongotai that could have caused the crash," he said, in answer to ~a question by Dr. Foden. EXPERT'S EVIDENCE. Roy Champion Kean, inspector of aircraft ■ and investigator of accidents, said that, concerning the regulation about flying not being allowed after sundown, there was: no definite rule but that' the regulation stated that:machines flying after sundown must be equipped with landing lights. In answer to a question by Mr. Ongley, he agreed that the return-flight was being cut a little fine. .The-pilot ■had no time-to lose and because of this there may have been some haste and neglect of precautions. . x In explaining why the manoeuvre was, in his opinion, a faulty one, Kean saidi—"The start of the take' off was more or less normal, into the wind.. Instead of turning to the. right he turned left and 'made a turn of 160 to 170 degrees bringing his course along the eastern boundary of the aerodrome. In making that turn to the left, half way round he would be confronted with hills. A pilot in taking off is concerned ..with gaining height, and it is extremely likely that the hills would create, in the pilot's mind, an obstacle to be cleared. "He completed this turn, and the fact that the pilot had the impression that it was necessary to carry;out an adjustment to the. tail trim lever seems to' indicate that it was forced on the pilot's mind at this stage of the flight that the machine., needed ; adjustment. This adjustment is not one normally made till the pilot has gamed height—it has no effect on the machine, it merely makes flying easier and eases the load on the control column. . /: , A TAIL WIND. ' "After the turn he had the benefit of a 25 miles an hour ■ tail wind, the speed jumped up to 80-85 miles an hour. . . There is another factor that could influence the pilot in that corner of the aerodrome in the lee of the hills. It is quite possible that there may have been down draughts, and this could create in the pilot's mind the fact that he was not gaining height as quickly as he would normally. "In a machine that is badly stalled all lateral control is lost; The slightest disturbance could cause a wing to drop, in this case the port wing. The instinctive,thing ;for a comparatively inexperienced pilot to do would be to endeavour to correct it. In normal flight he would correct the drop of the port wing by moving'the stick to . the right. When in a badly stalled condition this would be the very worst thing that he could do, in so far as it would make the port wing drop further." '• (■.Proceeding.) ,