AHSA Monthly Meeting 16 Sep 2020 (Derek Buckmaster: The Wirraway “Newspaper War”)

16/09/202027/12/2022

Derek Buckmaster gave a presentation on The Wirraway “Newspaper War”.

The AHSA September monthly meeting was held online via Zoom. A recording of the meeting is included below (click the image below to view the video):

1950 RAAF No 77 Squadron flew its first mission over Korea on 2 July 1950. Sixteen sorties were flown without incident. The following day it was tasked to attack road and rail traffic between Heitaku and Suwon. Some members of 77 Squadron had doubts that the target was the enemy. The target was reconfirmed and the attack carried out successfully. However, the squadron was later informed that its misgivings had been correct, and they had actually bombed a friendly transport of ground forces from the Republic of Korea and the United States. Although 77 Squadron was absolved of any fault, it was still a horrible experience. Source: AWM

1992 An Ansett Saab 340 came to rest in a ditch at Devonport Airport on 2 July 1992, after a crash landing, due to a propeller problem. Source: ATSB Occurrence Report,15 Oct. 1994. via aph.gov.au website

2003 After landing at Sydney Airport, Qantas flight 6 Boeing 747 carried out a precautionary tarmac emergency evacuation. Source: The Australian, 3 July 2003, p. 5. via aph.gov.au website

2020 A pilot fell asleep and was uncontactable for 40 minutes as his plane flew over Brisbane and the Gold coast on 2 July 2020. Air traffic control lost contact when the plane was around 53km north-west of Sunshine Coast airport, and tried repeatedly to get through to the pilot. The pilot only responded after the plane had overflown its intended destination by more than 110km. He was instructed to head to Gold Coast airport where he safely landed. The Cessna 208B Caravan VH-DQP had originally departed Cairns and was heading to Redcliffe as part of a ferry flight. Air traffic control asked the pilot of a Royal Flying Doctor Service Beechcraft B200 King Air to try and intercept the Cessna to wake up the pilot. The King Air pilot at first attempted to get close and contact the unresponsive pilot, but couldn’t get through. He then tried dipping the plane’s wings and approached the Cessna in an attempt to trigger its traffic alert and collision system – but the pilot remained unresponsive. Eventually, the pilot woke up and was able to re-establish communication with air traffic control. The pilot had fallen asleep due to fatigue, with the situation likely exacerbated by mild hypoxia from the intermittent use of supplemental oxygen. The unpressurised plane was flying at over 11,000 feet due to icy conditions, but the pilot was only occasionally using the supplied oxygen. The ATSB report stated the pilot “was experiencing chronic fatigue due to their reported inadequate sleep” and that sleep was inconsistent over an “extended period” prior to the incident. Source: ATSB