KYEEMA WRECK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 December 1938, Page 7

KYEEMA WRECK

VERDICT OF INQUIRY COMMITTEE

CIVIL AVIATION BOARD CONDEMNED.

DELAY IN ESTABLISHING BEACON.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received This Day, 10.55 a.m.) CANBERRA, This Day.

An error, of observation by the pilot. Captain' Webb, is held by the Air Accidents Investigation Committee to have caused the wreck of the air liner Kyeema, with a loss of eighteen lives, on October 25.

The committee says, however, that the error by the pilot would not have been made if the ultra-high frequency beacon, which was approved in March, 1937, had been operating on the day of the disaster.

The committee finds that the provision of, adequate safety machinery was the responsibility of the Civil Aviation Board and strongly condemns the board on this and other grounds. The committee .finds,-that the chief failure of the Civil Aviation Board was due to the fact that the Controller-General, Captain Johnston, deliberately and persistently set his face against the decentralisation of the board.

The report states that: “The board was so constituted, either as to its personnel or its method of conducting itsbusiness, as to be incapable of any decisive action.”

One year’s delay in arranging the beacon tests was due to the Civil Air Board and the Air Minister, Mr H. V. C. Thorby, who were each responsible for a six months’ hold-up.

The report recommends a review of the civil aviation administration and personnel, safety provision, the quick installation of radio beacons and the appointment of flight-checking officers.