AIR ACCIDENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23880, 3 February 1941, Page 6

AIR ACCIDENTS

MAINTENANCE OF CRAFT

DEFENCE BY OFFICER

UNJUST ASPERSIONS An assurance that aircraft in use and the maintenance they received were being wrongly blamed for accidents in the Royal New Zealand Air Force was given in a broadcast last night by Wing-Commander L. Crocker, R.A.F., who is 1-eturning to England shortly after three years in close association with the building-up of the technical side of the force. Aircraft maintenance, said WingCommander Crocker, was carried out by engine fitters and mechanics, riggers, armourers, wireless mechanics, electricians and instrument repairers, all of whom were trained specialists in their particular branches. Every aircraft was inspected by men of each group before its first flight of the day, after each flight and after every 30 hours' flying. At the end of each 180 hours' flying a special or major inspection was given. Causes of Mishaps In addition, complete work-hop overhauls were made at definite periods which varied for each aircraft type, hut which approximated to 600 hours' flying time for an engine and 1000 hours for an airframe. Every component was stripped down to its small parts, and when the engine or airframe emerged from the workshop its condition was as good as new. Applied to a motor-car, this procedure would require a complete overhaul of the engine every 21.000 miles. That the system was sound was proved by the fact that no fatal accident in the Royal New Zealand Air Force had been caused by mechanical failure. An analysis of accidents classed as serious since the beginning of the war, and in a critical period of expansion involving many difficulties, showed that 90 per cent had been due to the human element, or errors of judgment on the part of pilots, o per cent to the human element in maintenance, and 5 per cent to causes impossible to ascertain. Warnings to Pilots After pointing out that flying accident rates in civil airline flying and among Air Force trainees could not properly be set one against the other, Wing-Commander Crocker quoted an instruction to pupil pilots against low flying, "showing off" and taking unnecessary risks contrary to flying regulations. Those who were caught disobeying, he said, were punished severely. The New Zealand force, the speaker added, was fortunate in its aircraft equipment. It had some of the most modern trainer machines in the world and the remainder were proved types released from the Royal Air Force. Some types were obsolescent, but this did not mean that the machines were worn-out hacks. The maintenance system ensured that they were kept in perfect condition. Their slower landing j speeds and greater manoeuvrability | suited the purpose for which they were ' used in New Zealand, the training of pilots. Successful Development Assured "I leave New Zealand shortly to ! return to the Royal Air Force," Wing- | Commander Crocker continued. "I know, and I wish the people of New | Zealand to know, that the technical | side of their Air Force is based on i sound lines. The success of its development is assured. "There are rumours and whisperings among a small section of the public that New Zealand's aircraft and maintenance are. on the contrary, unsatisfactory, and every accident is attributed to faulty organisation," the speaker concluded. "The facts that I have given you this evening show that this is not the case, and persons who repeat such falsehoods are the conscious or the unconsci6us agents of Hitler."