Coroner probes into fatal plane crash near Myrrhee

Published in Wangaratta Chronicle 06.08.08 ... archived 06.08.08

THE landing gear on a plane which slammed into a Myrrhee hillside four years ago had been fully extended at the time of the crash.

A coronial inquest into the crash, which claimed six lives, was told this week that this was "consistent with the pilot believing he was about to land" at Benalla aerodrome.

D and R Henderson timber company co-founder, Robert Henderson,62, had arranged the flight from Bankstown in Sydney to Benalla as a treat for his daughter, Jackie Stark, 33, son-in-law Alan Stark and family friends, Geoff Brockie and Belinda Andrews.

The pilot, 68 year old Kerry Endicott, had more than 14,000 hours’ flying experience, the inquest was told.

Counsel assisting the coroner, John Langmead, said that Mr Endicott was relying on GPS readings for his flying position because of "miserable, mid-winter" weather conditions.

However, the GPS had failed to receive satellite signals, and it was "tragically obvious" that the readings it had been giving were in gross error.

A route adherence monitor (RAM) had alerted air traffic control that the aircraft was about 7.5 nautical miles off course, but after radio contact, Mr Endicott was given clearance to land the plane.

A second RAM alarm was received 20 minutes later but the air controller assumed the pilot had decided to change his approach path to the runway and made a "unilateral decision" to change the plane’s route on the flight data record and cancel the RAM alert.

The alert was not raised with the pilot, who then began his descent in the mistaken belief that he was approaching Benalla airport.

The plan crashed into a steep hill near Myrrhee 17 nautical miles from the airport, cutting a 200m swathe through trees. All six people on board died instantly.

John Ribbands, representing the Civil Air Operations Officers Association, told the inquest that the air controllers had been "unfairly criticised" in an internal review of the accident, and had in fact done everything that was expected of them in a difficult working environment.

He said that controllers received so many alerts prompted by pilots deviating from their routes that they became "insensitive" to them.

Jay Anderson, representing the families of the victims, said that Robert Henderson’s brother, David, had flown about 1000 hours with Mr Endicott and would give evidence of his "meticulous attention" to warnings, particularly from the GPS.

He said relatives believed that enhanced aviation safety procedures could have saved the lives of their loved ones.

He has made application to have aviation safety campaigner, Dick Smith, give evidence at the inquest.

However, coroner Paresa Spanos said the inquest was into the six deaths and was "not a royal commission into air safety in this country".