Australia Plane Crash

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AP Top News - 05/31/2000 Plane Crashes Off Australia's Coast

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) -- A small airplane with eight people aboard crashed Wednesday off the coast of South Australia state after reporting that both engines had failed. Two bodies were found early Thursday, police said.

Rescue teams were still searching the area where the twin-engine Piper Chieftain was believed to have gone down in Spencer Gulf, just to the west of Adelaide in South Australia state, hoping to find survivors.

Five men and three women were flying from Adelaide to Whyalla, about 120 miles to the north.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), May 31, 2000

Answers

This report adds concerns about possible fuel problems resulting in both engines cutting out....similar to concerns cited in recent US crash on twin engine airliner that killed 19

crash airline safety concerns

By CAROLYN COLLINS, CAROL ALTMANN and STEVE CREEDY 02jun00

A MASSIVE search and rescue effort will resume off the South Australian coast this morning for survivors from a commuter plane that ditched into the sea on Wednesday night with eight people on board.

Two bodies had last night been recovered from Whyalla Airlines flight 904 but the main wreckage of the aircraft had not been located, despite an extensive air and sea operation involving five aircraft and more than 50 boats.

As an Australian Transport Safety Bureau team arrived to start their investigations, it was revealed the Civil Aviation Saftey Authority had increased surveillance of Whyalla Airlines after an incident in 1997.

Former CASA chairman Dick Smith questioned whether regulatory oversight of the airline had been tough enough, revealing he had wanted the airline grounded in 1997 when he was deputy board chairman.

The twin-engine Piper Navajo Chieftain was on a routine flight from Adelaide to Whyalla when the pilot issued a mayday shortly after 7pm, alerting authorities that both engines had failed.

It was believed the plane crashed into Spencer Gulf about 19km south of Whyalla.

Aviation experts were at a loss to explain why both engines could have failed at the same time, although some pilots speculated the problem may have been fuel-related.

The managing director of the family-owned airline, Chris Brougham, described the accident as "a huge tragedy".

He said all the company's flights had been suspended "to enable pilots and staff to regroup their thoughts, and out of respect for the people who lost their lives".

The names of those on board had not been officially released last night but it was confirmed one, Peter Olsen, 48, of Cleve, was the first cousin of South Australian Premier John Olsen, who was understood to be devastated by the news.

Mr Olsen and his wife, Wendy, 45, who have three teenage daughters, were both aboard the plane.

Other passengers were 50-year-old Sydney union official Neil Marshall, Adelaide lawyer Richard Deegan, 44, Chris Schuppan, 39, of Whyalla, Teresa Pawlik, 55, and Joan Gibbons, 59, of Whyalla.

Mr Brougham said the pilot, 21-year-old Ben Mackiewicz, Victorian- born but living in Adelaide, was a fully qualified commercial pilot who had been flying with the company for about 17 months and had more than 2000 hours' experience.

The South Australian Government announced it would investigate why the aircraft was not legally required to carry lifejackets.

CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said under international aviation rules, lifejackets were not required on board aircraft flying less than 50 nautical miles offshore.

"The chance of two engines failing over that distance are pretty minimal and, of course, we have a real-life example of that happening, but the rules are there because the odds of that occurring are very minimal," Mr Gibson said.

Mr Gibson said CASA had taken regulatory action against Whyalla Airlines in 1998 after a forced aircraft landing due to a fuel problem, but the licensing restrictions were lifted in mid-1998 and no major problems had been recorded since.

"In the last 12 months, we have done six checks on their flying operations . . . also flown the routes with them . . . checked their maintenance organisation five or six weeks ago and conducted an operations flying audit in August 1999," he said.

"So there has been a number of audits and checks over the last 12 months and none of those have thrown up any issues which have stopped them operating."

http://7am.com/cgi-bin/wireclicker.cgi? http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,757352%255E421,00.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), June 02, 2000.


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