CAUSE OF CRASH

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24369, 3 September 1942, Page 4

CAUSE OF CRASH

MT. RICHMOND TRAGEDY BOARD'S RECOMMENDATIONS (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday The board of inquiry set up to inquire into the loss of a Union Airways' Lockheed aircraft in the crash at Mount Richmond on May 7, when the pilot, co-pilot and three passengers were killed, has reported to the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, on the cause of the accident as follows: "Evidence which is now available, but was not available to the pilot at the time, clearly establishes that wind condition and velocity existed over the latter half of the flight in an exceptional and unascertained degree beyond what the pilot might have anticipated from the forecast. Consequently we have drawn the conclusion that his ground speed was retarded beyond his expectation and that when he thought he was turning toward the south and approachincr the aerodrome he in reality was short of that point and impacted with the mountain. Failure to Turn North "At 8 IS a.m. and 8.19 a.m. the pilot received bearings which must have conveved to him the fact that his course „-as tending to the south In view of unknown factors and other circumstances which must have been known to him at the time we consider that not biter than 8.19 a.m. Commander K R Johnston should have attempted to bear to the north in order to regain his track and removo any possibility of danger from the high country further south. He did not do so, however, but continued to bear south until 8.22 when the last bearing was sent in. "Our view is that his failure to turn north was an error of judgment on the part of the pilot. Unification ol Control The hoard made the following recommendations: —(1) That there should bo reorganisation in respect to the control of these stations with a view to unification of control and the provision of recognised and efficient training of officers. (2) That the calibration of direction-finding stations should be completed, and stations when calibrated should be cleared for general use at the earliest possible date. (3) That the company should insist on pilots arriving not" less than 15 minutes before the scheduled time of departure of any commercial flight. (4) That the personnel emploved for recording weather data should be sufficiently experienced to justify confidence in their observations. The Minister said that action bad already been taken in providing for additional training for radio operators for the directing-finding service, and consideration was being given to the board's recommendation concerning the provision of unified control of directionfinding stations. The calibration of all main direction-finding stations had nowbeen completed, and they would be cleared for general uso as soon as possible. Training of Pilots The Minister said other factors, including the training and testing of air line pilots in blind approach technique, and the provision of efficient ground control had to be taken into consideration before the calibrated directionfinding stations could boused with safety for blind approach. Union Airways had agreed to give immediate consideration to the recommendation concerning the arrival time of pilots at the aerodrome. Concerning meteorological observers, the Minister said that in many cases these were the employees of the operating companies, and not of the Air Department. Instruction had been given to the company employees bv the meteorological officers of the department. When qualified control officers were appointed it was intended that they be made responsible for the furnishing of meteorological reports.