MISTAKE BY PILOT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 November 1938, Page 5

MISTAKE BY PILOT

SUGGESTED AT KYEEMA INQUIRY SOME REPORTS OBVIOUSLY INCORRECT. FACTS HELD TO ACCOUNT FOR DISASTER. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. MELBOURNE, October 31. The pilot of the Kyeema, the air liner which crashed on Mt Dandenong last Tuesday, killing 18 persons, believed the machine to be 40 miles nearer Adelaide than it actually was, according to evidence at the inquiry today. The evidence showed that he made his mistake in the last 50 miles. Arthur Herbert Affleck, flying instructor of the Civil Aviation Board produced a plan on which he plotted the course followed by the Kyeema. This was compiled from messages recorded at Essendon. According to the position reported by the pilot in certain instances, Affleck said, it would be impossible to plot an accurate course. Some reports were obviously incorrect. For instance the pilot reported passing Daylesford at 1.32 p.m. The time of the crash was estimated at about 1.44 p.m. If the Daylesford report were correct the plane would have had to travel at 370 m.p.h. whereas the speed from Daylesford to the scene of the crash must have been about 181 m.p.h. The pilot could not have helped noticing the position was wrong if he had been checking his position.

By mistaking Daylesford 40 miles nearer Adelaide he would probably assume that at .the time of the crash he was approaching Essendon instead of being 40 miles beyond. He must have seen some other town below him which he thought was Daylesford. John Henry Nance, weather officer, Essendon, said that after midday the ceiling was approximately 1500 feet and eight-tenths obscured. The inquiry was adjourned until tomorrow.