CHANGING OF PILOTS

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1934, Page 3

CHANGING OF PILOTS

DANGEROUS PRACTICE.

EVIDENCE AT SYDNEY INQUIRY.

The Air Accidents Investigation Committee, comprising Colonel Gipps (chairman), Wing-Commander Harrison and 'Mr. McComb, took evidence at Sydney recently on possible causes of the disappearance of the air liner Miss Hobart, while flying from Launceston to Melbourne on October 19.

Expert witnesses stated that a changeover of pilots in a single-control machine was highly dangerous. They also testified to the sound design and construction of the Miss Hobart type of aeroplane. Mr. Lester J. Brain, chief pilot of Quantas-Empire Airways, Limited, who had just arrived from England by air, piloting the new air mail liner Diana, said that he saw the Miss Hobart being built in the factory in England, and while in England he had flown a machine of identical type. In his opinion, the design and construction of the machine were perfectly sound. Mr. Brain, in reply to Mr. Little (counsel assisting’ the committee) said that for pilots to change their positions in the air in a machine fitted with one lot of controls was basically unsound. It opened a score of situations, all potentially dangerous. The controls should never be left without anybody actually in charge. The room available around the pilot’s seat in the Miss Hobart was considerably more than in most aeroplanes, but for two big men to change over would mean that they would have to rub up against the sides and the seat of the cockpit. It would be possible for the pocket of the coat of the pilot to get caught and pull one or two throttles off and cut off the engine or engines. “MANY POSSIBILITIES.” Asked what the effect of what he suggested would be, Mr. Brain said that the machine would immediately develop a powerful tendency to flat turn to the right. During the course of that flat turn, the right wing would probably come down, the nose would follow, and the machine would get into a spiral dive. Pushing the throttle on would tend to rectify it, but would not necessarily do so unless somebody was in the seat with his feet on the rudder. Mr. Little: Supposing he was flying at a height of 4000 ft., would the height enable the pilot to correct the position of the craft? Witness: If the machine started to do a violent flat turn it would be difficult for either pilot to recover and get into the seat at all. One man' might fall down and bump against the rudder lines of control. There are quite a lot of possibilities if the turn occurred. One of the pilots might slip and his feet might bump against a vital part of the machine. He might slip against the rudder control, although I know the floor is held to be a non-slip type of floor. The turn, however, might cause him to lose his balance. NO STRUCTURAL DEFECTS. Mr. Brain said the petrol gauges fitted on the Miss Hobart were in use in Europe, but he personally had found them unsatisfactory. Sometimes they were most erratic. He could not conceive of any structural defects in the Miss Hobart type. The possibility of propeller trouble was remote. It had been known to occur, but the cases were rare. Robert Vivian Clifton, chief engineer to the de Havilland Aircraft Company at Mascot, said that he supervised the installation of the engines. The engines were tested, and they functioned perfectly. There was no failure of any kind. In the case of a petrol shortage the pilot would have ample time to send out a message. He would have at least a minute or two. The petrol gauges on the Miss Hobart were very efficient.