Prosecuted

Guinea Air Traders Not To Be Prosecuted Report of Lae Air Accident Released by Minister

ALMOST ll months after the event, the official report of the air accident in Lae, New Guinea, on April 18, 1948, was tabled in the Australian Parlia ment, in early March. The Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr. Drakeford, said that no legal action would now be taken against the operators.

The accident occurred when a plane operated by Guinea Air Traders Ltd., and owned by a Mr. Van Praag, of Sydney, crashed on an island in the Markham River shortly after taking off from Lae.

The crew of four, and 33 native passengers were killed.

A report by a panel of Civil Aviation Department experts was given to the Minister some months ago but was not released for publication. Several ques tions have been asked in the House in this connection, and at the time of the acci dent, there was a considerable amount of controversy as to whether natives should or should not be carried as freight—as had been the practice in pre-war New Guinea.

The experts’ report fixed the cause of accident as loss of control of the aircraft, following failure of the port engine due to “fatigue failure of an accessory drive gear.” The panel said, also, that loss of control was probably due to poor tech nique on the part of the pilot, following the engine failure; contributing factor could be that the pilot had had inade quate training in this type of aircraft,

and that the load was not disposed of correctly in the plane.

Seating accommodation was provided for two, and the certificate of air worthiness limited the passengers to this number, although the loaded weight of the aircraft, at the time of the accident, was within the all-up weight specified in the certificate.

The panel considered that, unless the positions of the occupants had been changed, provision of seats and safety belts for all the passengers would not have affected the circumstances of the accident.

In October, 1948, Mr. Drakeford stated, he had authorised the (prosecution of Guinea Air Traders. 'But since then the Crown Solicitor had advised that action could not be taken along the lines re commended and the prosecution had not been proceeded with.

The Department of Civil Aviation, how ever, was seeing that regulations for the training of pilots and the loading of aircraft were observed in New Guinea as they were in Australia.