R101 LOST GAS, AND SUDDENLY CRASHED

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 78, 1 April 1931, Page 9

RlOl LOST GAS, AND SUDDENLY CRASHED

REPORT OF COURT OF INQUIRY IS NOW ISSUED. (United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) * (Received April 1. 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, March 31. The report of the Court of Inquiry into the loss of RlOl is devoted entirely to the vessel’s course and the cause of the specific event. The court started with a series of definitely ascertained facts which inquiry had established: (1) Among'the explanations definitely rejected is any idea that the vessel, from internal weakness, broke up in the air. (2) The court set aside any failure of control. (3) The court reached the conclusion that the accident could not be explained solely by reference to the abnormal weather conditions, although the weather was a predisposing cause. (4) There was no reason to attribute the accident to any failure in the competence of the officers and crew, but in view of the change of the watch and the prevailing weather it may well have been impossible to bring the ship rapidly back to an horizontal position if her nose had been forced down in the way suggested.

(5) The longitudinal gasbag movement was so limited in its extent that by itself it was quite insufficient to account for serious loss of control even in tempestuous conditions. The experts believe that the explanation of the disaster must be associated with a substantial loss of gas. The report discusses whether the loss was general throughout the length of the ship, or was chiefly concentrated in the fore part. Was the loss gradual, or due to a sudden catastrophe which would empty the forward gasbags immediately before the dive, or could it be explained by natural loss spread over a considerable interval, culminating in a further catastrophic loss? After examining the reports of the experts the court reached the conclusion that there were three phases in the initial movement of R 101: “In the first she drops her nose and descends at a noticeably steep angle for half a minute before, by the use of the up-eleva-tor, she is brought back to an approximately horizontal position. The second phase then begins and continues for a short time, during which, in spite of her utmost efforts, she does not succeed in keeping her nose appreciably up, but continues horizontal, until she suddenly plunges. The third phase is when she dives again and strikes the ground, almost at once, at an angle of at least 50 degrees.” _ Concluding examination of the possible causes o£ these successive movements the report proceeds: “How the vessel lost gas can never be definitely ascertained. The weather was exceptionally bad. The gasbags were hard up against the padded projections, some of which may have begun to wear the fabric. The bumping and pitching of the ship would intensify the strain, and earlier flights had indicated the possibility of weakness, but it is very probable that the more serious sudden loss of gas which followed was connected with a specific cause, such as the ripping of the fore part of the envelope —something of this sort happened on a previous occasion and no amount of care could secure that it would never happen again. If the ship were torn in the fore part of the envelope it would tend to develop into a larger tear tohict) would both check the speed and expose the gasbag to additional strain. This seemed the most probable explanation of the loss of gas in increasing quantity and suddenness.”