All 15 people on board turboprop killed in Australia's worst airliner crash since 1968
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) was last week trying to recover data from the badly damaged flight data recorder (FDR) from a Fairchild Metro III that crashed into a ridge on the Cape York Peninsula in the far north of Queensland, killing all 13 passengers and two crew on board. The death toll in the 7 May accident makes it Australia's worst air crash in nearly 40 years.
The Transair-owned 19-seat Metro (VH-TFU), on lease to Aero-Tropics Air Services, was on a scheduled passenger service from Bamaga, near the tip of Cape York, to Cairns. The pilot reported no problems during the flight, but the weather was bad, with a lot of rain and low cloud. The aircraft crashed into a cloud-covered ridge and burst into flames as it was on an RNAV approach to the Lockhart River Aboriginal community. The wreckage was located in a densely wooded area, about 11km (6nm) from Lockhart River's runway.
The Metro was believed to be 500ft (150m) lower than it was supposed to be at the time of the crash. It was not fitted with an enhanced ground proximity warning system, which becomes mandatory equipment for passenger aircraft in Australia from 30 June.
The ATSB says that the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder had no information on it as it appeared not to be working during the flight. It was an older 30min tape loop recorder. However, the bureau is hopeful that the information from the FDR, on time, airspeed, altitude, heading, control surface and engine settings will allow it to replicate the flight.
Transair had recently been reissued with a three-year air operator's certificate after passing the Civil Aviation Safety Authority's audit. The ATSB aims to issue a preliminary report on the accident within a month.
The last major civil airliner crash in Australia was in December 1968 when a Robertson-Miller Airlines Vickers Viscount crashed at Port Hedland, Western Australia, killing 26 people.
EMMA KELLY/PERTH
Source: Flight International
