October 2022 Outlook Newsletter

DerekB27/10/202222/11/2022

The October 2022 edition of Outlook / AHSA News has been emailed to members.

This edition can also be read online in the viewer below.

Click here to view fullscreen (opens in a new tab)

1915 Henry Millicer, decorated air force pilot, aircraft designer and academic was born on 11 June 1915. Millicer was born in Poland, as Henryk Kazimierz Milicer to Kazimierz Milicer, professor of engineering, and his wife Helena, née Lewandowska. Henry flew model aircraft in his youth, then studied at Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) before working at the Polish State Aviation Works as a junior designer. He joined the Polish Air Force at the start of the Second World War flying and was awarded the Polish Air Force Cross for the actions of his army observation and reconnaissance unit. He escaped to Britain after the fall of Poland and served briefly with the French Air Force before joining the Royal Air Force, serving as a bomber pilot in a Polish RAF squadron. In 1950 Millicer accepted a position as chief aerodynamicist with the Government Aircraft Factories, Fishermans Bend, Melbourne. His 'Airtourer' design (developed with GAF colleagues Gordon Bennett and John Tutty) won a design competition sponsored by the Royal Aero Club of Great Britain in 1953. The design was eventually built and flown and entered production by Victa. He became senior aeronautical lecturer at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and was a fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, and the Royal Aeronautical Society. Sources: Australian Dictionary of Biography; Job, Macarthur and Wilson, Stewart (March 1983), "Henry Millicer and Victa", Made in Australia and NZ.

1973 Commonwealth Aircraft CA-18 Mk 21 Mustang VH-IVI (c/n 1444, formerly A68-119) owned by Mr Ray Whitbread crashed at South Windsor, NSW on 11 June 1973. While Whitbread was performing aerobatics the canopy detached and struck him on the head. The Mustang plunged into the ground killing Whitbread instantly. Sources: aviation-safety.net website; ADF-Serials

1993 Piper PA31-350 Navajo Chieftain VH-NDU of Monarch Airlines crashed at Young, NSW on Friday 11 June 1993. The aircraft struck trees at a height of 275 feet above the elevation of the aerodrome at Young at about 1918 EST while on a right base leg for a landing approach to runway 01 in conditions of low cloud and darkness. The aircraft, which was being operated as Monarch Airlines flight OB301 on a regular public transport service from Sydney to Young, was destroyed by impact forces and post crash fire. All seven occupants, including the two pilots, suffered fatal injuries. The ATSB investigation found that the circumstances of the accident were consistent with controlled flight into terrain. Descent below the minimum circling altitude without adequate visual reference was the culminating factor in a combination of local contributing factors and organisational failures. The local contributing factors included poor weather conditions, equipment deficiencies, inadequate procedures, inaccurate visual perception, and possible skill fatigue. Organisational failures were identified relating to the management of the airline by the company, and the regulation and licensing of its operations by the Civil Aviation Authority. The destruction of the regional airliner revealed widespread shortcomings at the heart of Australia’s regulatory system. Sources: ATSB, aviation-safety.net website