This Day in History: 2007-04-04

ATSB released its detailed investigation report into the Lockhart River crash on 4 April 2007. It stated that the accident was almost certainly the result of controlled flight into terrain, that is, an airworthy aircraft under the control of the flight crew was flown unintentionally into terrain, probably with no prior awareness by the crew of the aircraft’s proximity to terrain. The investigation report identified a range of contributing and other safety factors relating to the crew of the aircraft, Transair’s processes, regulatory oversight of Transair by CASA, and RNAV (GNSS) approach design and chart presentation. It also detailed safety action taken by various agencies to address the identified safety issues. The crash was also examined in an inquest by the Queensland Coroner with both CASA and the ATSB assisting the Coroner. The coronial inquest provided a forum for detailed and objective consideration of CASA’s oversight of Transair (see 18 August 2007 entry). Source: ATSB, Aviation Safety Investigation Report AE-2005-01977, 7 May 2005. via aph.gov.au website