The high wing Cessna 206, clipped a tree and plummeted into a dam at
Ebenezer, near Willowbank, shortly after take-off on January 2, 2006, killing
the pilot and four skydivers.
Two skydivers survived with chemical burns and fractures.
The final incident report, released by the Australian Transport and Safety
Bureau (ATSB) on Tuesday, failed to find what caused the engine of the light
plane to partially lose power on take-off.
While fuel outside the specifications had been used and the plane had been
overloaded by 113kg, neither factor would have caused the crash, it said.
The report said a number of "less significant anomalies" may have been to
blame.
It also found several factors that would have made it harder for passengers
to survive the crash and escape the wreckage.
It found floor restraints - used instead of seatbelts by parachutists - had
been too few and had not been used.
"Had the cabin occupants been suitably restrained, there was the possibility
that their injuries may have been less severe," the report said.
A tandem master and student were also found to be harnessed together,
compromising safety.
"Their harnessing together prior to the take off would have adversely
affected the ability of one or both of them to successfully exit the submerged
aircraft," the report said.
In addition, aircraft documents did not include emergency procedures.
Pilot Anthony Winter, 22, from Brisbane, Irish skydiving instructor Nigel
O'Gorman, 34, British instructor Colin Hicklin, 41, Briton Susanne Williams, 49,
and Barbara McLelland, 40, of the Gold Coast, were killed in the crash.
Brisbane Skydiving Centre owner Brian Scoffell, 57, and Mandy Best, 27,
survived.
The report made several safety recommendations, including having the
Australian Parachute Federation (APF) audit its members' aircrafts to improve
safety features and the use of helmets in future flights.
It found passengers had received head injuries that may have rendered them
unconscious and unable to escape.
APF chief executive officer Graeme Windsor said the industry was sceptical
about the use of helmets but members were looking into it.
Mr Windsor said the biggest issue was the chance of a tandem instructor being
knocked by a student's helmet during a jump.
"And we look at other light aircraft or other aviation activities using the
sort of aeroplanes that we use - passengers in those aeroplanes don't wear
helmets, neither do the pilots," he said.
Mr Windsor added it was already normal practice to use single floor
restraints and hook together tandem parachutists immediately before the
jump.
But ways to improve current safety audits were being examined, he said.
"Where it is possible to change the rules to make the sport of skydiving in
Australia safer, we'll take that."
As a result of the crash and several similar accidents, ATSB has set up a
special investigation into factors influencing engine power loss.
Crash survivor Mr Scoffell said he had not had time to properly examine the
67-page report, but said he was satisfied the over-loading of the aircraft had
not contributed to the crash.
"The aircraft had several approved and entirely proper modifications to it
that increased both lift and power, which on any proper analysis entirely
eliminated the weight of the aircraft as even a possible cause," he said in a
written statement to AAP.
Source
| http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Doomed
-flight-ignored-safety-practices/2007/10/30/1193618853462.html
