2025 Duigan Memorial Lecture – Michael Smith

DerekB26/10/202526/10/2025

The Aviation Historical Society of Australia is pleased to announce the 2025 Duigan Memorial Lecture, to be held at the Duigan Centre, Brighton Grammar School.

Mr Michal Smith will share his experiences in re-creating the first flight around Australia to mark the centenary of the flight by Wing Commander S.J. (‘Jimmy’) Goble and Flying Officer Ivor McIntyre in 1924.

The lecture will be held on Wednesday 3 December 2025 at the Duigan Centre, Brighton Grammar School, 90 Outer Crescent, Brighton VIC 3186. Please arrive at 6:30 so we can start the presentation promptly at 7:00pm.

Entry is free of charge, but bookings are essential so we don’t exceed the capacity of the centre. Use the form below to book your tickets.

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2002 On 28 October 2002, Qantas initiated Jetconnect, a wholly owned subsidiary which commenced operations on domestic services in New Zealand, effectively taking over the role of the former franchised Qantas New Zealand operation. Jetconnect flew Boeing 737-300 aircraft in Qantas livery, but without the Spirit of Australia caption. It had a New Zealand Airline Operators Certificate and its aircraft were registered in New Zealand. Source: Australian Airline Industry, Research Paper Index, Research Paper no. 10 2002-03, Turbulent Times:Australian Airline Industry Issues 2003, John Kain and Richard Webb, Economics, Commerce and Industrial Relations Group, 16 June 2003, https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp0203/03RP10 retrieved 6 Nov 2022.

2003 The ATSB issued a Supplementary Whyalla Airlines Investigation Report (tabled on 28 October 2003) to reconfirm the ATSB December 2001 report, rather than the SA State Coroners July findings. Source: ATSB Media Release 2003/07. via aph.gov.au website

2017 Cessna T310R VH-JMW crashed at Johns River, NSW on 28 October 2017. During the afternoon of 28 October 2017, VH-JMW was conducting a return flight from The Lakes airstrip, New South Wales to Toowoomba Airport, Queensland with the pilot and one passenger on board. On the return flight from Toowoomba, during descent to The Lakes, and while about 8 km from the runway, a witness recalled hearing the sound of what he thought was a single-engine aircraft ‘cough’ and then stop. Shortly afterwards, JMW was seen descending slowly with the landing gear extended. The aircraft then ‘jerked’ suddenly, rolled to the left and descended rapidly to the ground. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured and the aircraft was destroyed. The ATSB identified that during the final descent towards The Lakes airstrip runway, the left engine was not producing power and the right engine was operating at low or intermittent power. Following the loss of engine power a safe flying speed was not maintained resulting in a loss of control and collision with terrain due to either an aerodynamic stall, asymmetric power effects or a combination of both. The loss of engine power was probably the result of either insufficient fuel for the flight or an in‑flight fuel management error. Sources: ATSB; aviation-safety.net website