Junkers F13 – Aviation Historical Society of Australia

DerekB30/09/202319/11/2023

Aviation Heritage Vol. 54 No. 3 (September 2023) Contents Listing

The latest quarterly AHSA journal – Aviation Heritage – has recently been posted to members. The contents of all articles are listed below: Aviation...

1936 The New Zealand aviator Jean Batten landed at Darwin at 10:35 am on 11 October 1936 after flying from London in the record time of 5 days, 20 hours and 50 minutes. She bettered the record which had been set by H.F. Broadbent. Her flight to Darwin had departed from Singapore and she made a brief stop at Koepang. Source: The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW) Mon 12 Oct 1936, Page 1, JEAN BATTEN LANDS: SOLO RECORD SMASHED

1942 Lockheed Hudson Mk I A16-18 operated by 1 OTU RAAF went missing off Flinders Island on 11 October 1942. The aircraft was on a training flight from Bairnsdale to Flinders Island. Four crew members were killed: PLTOFF Edward R Deacon #408978, FLTSGT Albert F Manning #415038, FLTSGT Cecil H Andrews #405340 and FLTSGT William Anderson #405389 missing. Sources: ADF-Serials; aviation-safety.net website

1990 Piper PA-32R-300 Cherokee Lance VH-RFW crashed at Hat Head National Park, NSW on 11 October 1990. The aircraft had flown from Bendigo to Mudgee where it was refuelled. After leaving Mudgee the pilot diverted from his planned route due to weather and tracked via Muswellbrook, Maitland, Gloucester, and Taree. At 1626 hours the pilot reported at Port Macquarie at 5000 ft and requested airways clearance. The aircraft was cleared to track coastal to Coffs Harbour and to enter the control area at 4500 ft. The pilot's acknowledgement of this clearance was the last recorded transmission from the aircraft. The estimated entry time for the control area (at 25 nm from Coffs Harbour) was 1642 hours. At 1645 Coffs Harbour Flight Information Service attempted to contact the aircraft for traffic purposes, but there was no reply. At 1807 hours a search aircraft reported an Emergency Locator Beacon signal on 121.5 Mhz in the South West Rocks area. However, due to the inaccessible nature of the terrain, and mist after dark, the wreckage was not found until 0330 on the following morning. The accident site was in the Hat Head National Park, about 38 nm from Coffs Harbour, and about 4 nm east of the direct Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour track. The aircraft had struck trees, in a wings level attitude, at a descent angle of 16 degrees to the horizontal, on a track of 021 degrees. Although subsequently destroyed, the aircraft had been intact at initial impact. Witnesses reported that a severe electrical storm with hail had passed through the area between Kempsey and South West Rocks between 1630 and 1700 hours. Based on estimated time intervals and known ground speeds, it was considered that the accident occurred at about 1638-1640 hours. A Bureau of Meteorology analysis indicated that at this time the severe thunderstorm would have been almost over the accident site. Severe updraughts and downdraughts are known to occur in the vicinity of such large storms and the magnitude of such downdraughts could exceed the climb capability of a light aircraft. There were 4 fatalities. Sources: ATSB investigation number 199002011; aviation-safety.net website

2000 The Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee reported on the Administration of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority Matters related to Arcas Airways on 11 October 2000. The inquiry concerned the concealment of unofficial aircraft defect records and led to recommendations for legal prosecutions and creation of a new Director of Aviation Safety within CASA. CASA responded by taking action on the recommendations and demoted its head of aviation compliance Mr Laurence Foley. Source: CASA Media Release, 12 October 2000. via aph.gov.au website

2022 An inflight brawl between two passengers forced the crew of Jetstar Airbus A320 VH-VQQ to return to Melbourne on 11 October 2022. The aicraft was operating flight JQ582 from Melbourne and Brisbane when the flight broke out about 25 minutes into the flight. In a video that appeared online, multiple punches are thrown while other passengers try to separate the two men. “There was a commotion, there was yelling, people started standing up, it went on for a couple of minutes,” a passenger told 9 News. “One gentleman was then escorted to the rear of the aircraft, he had blood on his face … we didn’t hear anything else, we had no information.” Another passenger said one of the men was “aggressive” before he boarded the flight. Upon landing back in Melbourne, the aircraft was met by Australian Federal Police. They removed the two people from the plane. The flight finally continued to Brisbane, where the passengers arrived with a delay of 1 hour 25 minutes. Source: aviation24.be