DC-3 – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB10/03/202511/05/2025

Ticket sales have closed for the DC-3 flights from Essendon to Ballarat 17 & 18 May 2025

The Ballarat branch of the Air Force Association (BAFA) is chartering the Shortstop Jetcharter (SJC) Douglas DC-3 VH-OVM to operate Essendon-Ballarat return flights on...

2001 Beechcraft C90 King Air VH-LQH operated by Eastland Air - Moore's Air Charter crashed at Toowoomba, Queenslad on 27 November 2001. The aircraft took off from runway 29 at Toowoomba aerodrome, Queensland for an Instrument Flight Rules charter flight to Goondiwindi, Queensland. On board were the pilot and three passengers. Just prior to, or at about the time the aircraft became airborne, the left engine failed. A subsequent examination of the left engine found that it probably lost thrust-producing power almost immediately. Following the engine failure, the take-off manoeuvre continued and the aircraft became airborne prior to crashing. The aircraft was equipped with an automatic propeller feathering system, but the propeller was not feathered at impact. The reason the propeller was not feathered could not be determined. The landing gear was not retracted during the short flight. The right engine was developing significant power at impact. The aircraft remained airborne for about 20 seconds. The aircraft's flight path was typical of an asymmetric, low speed flight situation, and it is unlikely that the aircraft's speed was ever significantly above the minimum control speed (Vmca) of 90 kts. The aircraft manufacturer's specified procedures for responding to an engine failure in LQH stated that the take off should be rejected below the 'take-off speed', specified as 100 kts. After control of the aircraft was lost, and as the aircraft was rolling through about 90 degrees left bank, it struck powerlines about 10 m above ground level and about 560 m beyond the end of the runway. It then continued to roll left and impacted the ground inverted in a steep nose-low attitude. An intense fuel-fed fire erupted upon initial impact with the ground. The aircraft was destroyed and all four occupants sustained fatal injuries. In September 2005, a coronial inquiry into the accident was commenced. During that inquiry, new information was brought to the attention of the ATSB. As a result of this new information, the ATSB formally reopened the investigation on 11 November 2005in accordance with Paragraph 5.13 of Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention through Section 17 of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003, to assess the matters raised and their significance to the original ATSB investigation findings. In light of a further review of the evidence, the ATSB has reconsidered its original finding that the initiating event of the engine failure of VH-LQH was a blade release in the compressor turbine and proposes that an alternative possibility could have been that the initiating event occurred in the power turbine. Notwithstanding this possibility, in either scenario, the remainder of the findings and safety recommendations contained in the original ATSB report are still relevant. Sources: ATSB; aviation-safety.net website

2006 CASA suspended for at least five business days regular public transport and charter flights operated by Lessbrook Pty Ltd, trading as Transair, in regional NSW and north Queensland on 27 November 2006. The regulator now had to prove to a Federal Court that its latest action was warranted. If successful, this would enable CASA to ground Transair for a further 40 days while it carried out an investigation. Source: AAP, ‘Qld's Transair grounded on safety concerns’, The Canberra Times, 28 November 2006, p. 8. via aph.gov.au website