AHSA Melbourne Meeting December 2022: Annual Barbeque

DerekB11/12/202212/12/2022

The final Melbourne meeting for the year will be a member’s barbecue, to be held at the Moorabbin Air Museum on Sunday 11 December, from 10am to 2pm.

Members and their partners are welcome.

1917 LT Frank McNamara landed behind enemy lines to rescue a fellow pilot on 20 March 1917, in an action for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Born in Rushworth, Victoria, 1894 Frank Hubert McNamara was educated at Shepparton High School and then the Teachers Training College, Melbourne, before becoming a teacher. Having joined the cadets at school, McNamara was commissioned in the militia in 1913 and mobilized at the start of World War 1. After serving in local garrisons during late 1914 and early 1915, he was accepted into pilot training at Point Cook and graduated as a pilot in October 1915. He was then posted to No 1 Squadron after completing some flying and further training in England. On 20 March 1917 McNamara was flying one of four Martinsyde aircraft in a bombing mission against Turkish positions in preparations for an allied offensive in Gaza. After dropping three bombs and then being injured by a fourth bomb pre-detonating in his cockpit, McNamara noticed fellow No 1 Squadron airmen CAPT Rutherford on the ground beside his crashed BE2 aircraft. Despite Turkish cavalry rapidly approaching Rutherford’s position, McNamara el ected to rescue his trapped colleague. McNamara landed near the crashed aircraft and Rutherford jumped onto the wing of McNamara’s single seat aircraft and McNamara tried to take off. The aircraft then crashed and the two airmen went back to Rutherford’s aircraft, repaired the fault while providing covering fire against the advancing Turks and then took off successfully. In severe pain and close to blacking out due to loss of blood from his wounds, McNamara managed to fly the aircraft 70 miles back to base. Lt McNamara was awarded the Victoria Cross for his courageous actions on the day; the first ever Australian Airmen, and only Australian airmen of World War 1, to receive the honour. He is one of only four Australian airmen to have ever been awarded the Victoria Cross over the last 100 years. Although forced to leave the AFC in 1918, McNamara joined the RAAF in the 1920's and rose to the rank of Air Vice Marshal serving all of his time in World War 2 overseas and never returning to Australia. Source: AWM; AFA SA Division [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="442"]

Lt Frank McNamara at Point Cook in 1916.[/caption]

1945 CAC CA-12 Boomerang A46-97 of 83 Squadron RAAF crashed 4 miles west of Exeter NSW on 20 March 1945. The aircraft was on a ferry flight from 4 Aircraft Depot Kalgoorlie, WA to 83 Squadron at Menangle, NSW. The pilot WOFF Donald Trevor Wrightson (425400) was killed. Sources: aviation-safety.net website; ADF-Serials

1993 Robinson R22 Beta VH-LTX crashed at Tuggerah, 3 km south of Wyong, NSW on 20 March 1993. The helicopter had been hired by the pilot to take family members on scenic flights in the local area. It was observed operating at low level between Tacoma and the F3 freeway during the afternoon. During its fourth flight it was observed flying low over the F3 freeway on a southerly heading then making a rapid 180 degree turn onto a northerly heading which it maintained for a short time. It then turned to the east and descended into a shallow depression where it collided with high tension power lines some 47 feet above ground level. There were 2 fatalities and the aircraft was written off. Source: ATSB

1994 Cessna 152 VH-RNN crashed at Berowra, approximately 105 km south of Maitland, NSW on 20 March 1994. The pilot had been authorised to carry out a night-VFR flight in the Maitland training area on 19 March. That evening VH-RNN was observed to depart Maitland and later in the evening the pilot was seen in his car in the airport carpark. The following morning witnesses observed an unidentified aircraft flying in a northerly direction below low cloud on the eastern side of the F3 freeway, approximately 105 km south of Maitland. The aircraft was subsequently observed to bank steeply to the left and appeared to descend before disappearing from view. The wreckage of VH-RNN was subsequently found on 30 March, near the F3 freeway, about 800 m south of the earlier sighting of the unidentified aircraft. Toxicological analysis of the pilot revealed the presence of the drug Dextropropoxyphene at levels which may have caused him to experience sleepiness, hallucinations, delusions and confusion during the flight. The pilot's ability to remain safely clear of terrain may have been adversely affected by the effects of the drug Dextropropoxyphene. Source: ATSB

2008 On 20 March 2008 The new Federal Government released for comment a report written by Mr Russell Miller on the relationship between the ATSB and CASA. It mainly addressed matter of administrative functions and regulatory requirements, with 19 categories of recommendations. Source: Russell Miller, ATSB/CASA Review 2007: Report to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, and Local Government, Canberra. via aph.gov.au website

2008 The Civil Aviation Legislation Amendment (1999 Montreal Convention and Other Measures) Bill 2008 was introduced to Parliament on 20 March 2008 to create a two-tier system of liability designed to ensure that more equitable compensation was available to injured passengers. Source: J Tomaras, Bills Digest no. 99 2007–08, Parliamentary Library, Canberra 12 May 2008. via aph.gov.au website

2009 At Melbourne Airport on 20 March 2009, an Emirates Airbus A340 scraped its tail along the tarmac and grassland beyond the runway, then hit airport landing lights and disabled a radio antenna before climbing away. The pilots discovered an incorrect weight reading and thrust setting in the laptop computer, while they were circling Port Phillip Bay readying for an eventual safe emergency landing at Tullamarine. Source: ATSB, Tailstrike Melbourne Airport, Vic. 20 March 2009 A6-ERG Airbus A340-541, media release, 18 December 2009. via aph.gov.au website

2015 Piper PA-25-235/A9 Pawnee VH-NLP operated by Western Aerial Crop Spraying & Spreading crashed at Hamilton Highway at Mortlake, Warrnambool,Victoria on 20 March 2015. The aircraft departed a private airstrip near Derrinallum in the morning to conduct insect baiting operations on a property near Darlington, Victoria. Shortly after commencing that task, the aircraft collided with terrain and was destroyed by impact forces and a post-impact fire. The pilot, who was the sole occupant, was fatally injured. The ATSB found that while positioning the aircraft for a baiting run, the pilot inadvertently descended below the normal application height over an adjacent paddock. While recovering from this loss of height and avoiding terrain, the aircraft probably stalled and entered an incipient spin at a height from which recovery was not possible before colliding with terrain. Source: ATSB

2019 Eurocopter AS 350B3 Ecureuil VH-SZS operated by Aeropower Holdings Pty Ltd crashed at Carrapateena Mine 66 km east of Woomera, SA on 20 March 2019. The helicopter was performing aerial work on Pernatty Station, South Australia, approximately 60 km east of Woomera Airfield. The task involved helicopter powerline stringing from the Mount Gunson South substation to the Carrapateena mine site, a total distance of 51 km. The stage being conducted on the morning of 20 March was from pole 159 to pole 179, a distance of 4.8 km. Stringing operations continued normally for poles 161, 162 and 163. However, while approaching pole 164, at about 1017am, witnesses reported seeing the helicopter collide with the pole and impact terrain near the base of the pole. The pilot, who was the sole occupant, received fatal injuries. The ATSB found that shortly after the pilot was trained in powerline stringing, for unknown reasons they modified the taught stringing methodology. The new methodology placed the helicopter at low level in the vicinity of the powerline poles, increasing the risk of a collision. It also exacerbated the uptake of dust which, in combination with the position of the sun and the rearward attitude of the aircraft likely reduced the pilots’ visibility of pole 164 and their situational awareness of it. These factors, combined with the short distance and large elevation gain between pole 163 and 164, led to the pilot inadvertently colliding with pole 164. It was also found that the indirect supervision provided to the newly trained pilot was ineffective in identifying that a modified stringing method was being used. Source: ATSB