The ATSB investigation Preliminary Report into the accident in which six lives were lost when a privately operated Piper Cheyenne aircraft crashed near Benalla, Victoria, on 28 July 2004, found that the aircraft was off course for a substantial period. The aircraft departed Bankstown, NSW that morning, and travelled via Jervis Bay. The pilot then contacted air traffic control requesting a track from abeam Ulladulla to Benalla. The route flown did not pass directly over any ground based navigation aids and the pilot relied on the global positioning system (GPS) for navigation and for the…

A media briefing on the circumstances of the 8 September 2004, Robinson R44 Helicopter, VH-JWX near Roma, Queensland will be held in the Roma airport car park, outside the terminal at 6.00pm today, 10 September 2004. The Investigator in Change, Mike Cavenagh, will provide factual events that are known to the investigation team at this point in time. With the exception of this media briefing all media contact will continue to be addressed by the Bureau's central office, details below.

Given the heightened interest, the ATSB has released an interim report on progress with its investigation into the tragic Benalla fatal accident, emphasising its complexity due to destruction of the aircraft and the need to carefully address all the safety issues. The ATSB Preliminary Report into this six-fatality accident in a Piper Cheyenne was released on 31 August to provide early safety advice and warning to the industry. The aircraft tracked from Bankstown to the Benalla area via Jervis Bay and the pilot had planned to conduct a Global Positioning System (GPS) approach at…

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has found that fatigue cracking in the blade slots of a high-pressure turbine disk led directly to the uncontained failure of the left engine of a Boeing 767 aircraft that occurred near Brisbane on 8 December 2002. The aircraft was operating a scheduled passenger service to Auckland, New Zealand and was forced to return to Brisbane airport after the failure. Damage to a wing leading-edge flap from engine debris and the weight of the fuel being carried for the trans-Tasman flight led the flight crew to perform a prepared emergency landing, during…

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is seeking assistance from the public to locate a door that fell from an aircraft at about 0715 EST Tuesday 7 September 2004. The aircraft, a Raytheon Beechcraft King Air B300, was en route from Brisbane to Central Queensland at position 149 degrees 51 minutes East, 25 degrees South (approximately 14 NM WSW of Theodore township) and descending through 17,000 ft when the cabin door separated from the aircraft. The door is curved, coloured white and about 1.5 m by 0.8 m by 15 cm. The likely area of interest is bounded by Theodore, Glenbar Station,…

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has advised that the door that fell from a Raytheon Beechcraft King Air B300 aircraft on Tuesday 7 September 2004 has been located. The ATSB would like to thank media outlets for their cooperation in publicising our request for assistance in finding the cabin door. The door was located to the south-west of Theodore, Central Queensland. With the assistance of the Queensland Police Service the door will be delivered to the ATSB's laboratories in Canberra for examination. The ATSB will now be in a much better position to determine why the door fell…

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has been advised that two people were fatally injured in a Robinson R44 helicopter crash which occurred at about 6.30pm on 8 September 2004. The accident occurred some 30NM, West South West of Roma, Queensland. The ATSB is sending an investigation team to the site to attempt to determine the causal factors that led to this tragic accident and to make any necessary recommendations to prevent future accidents. Until the team has arrived on site the ATSB will not be able to comment on the circumstances of this tragic accident.

After allowing for activity levels, ATSB research indicates that Robinson R22 helicopters have a similar safety profile to other comparable helicopters. This study was prompted by increasing concerns about light utility helicopter safety in Australia. Light utility helicopters make up half the registered fleet yet were involved in 72 per cent of all helicopter accidents between 1985 and 2003. The report compared accident involvement and accident rates of four helicopter models; Robinson R22, Bell/Agusta/Kawasaki 47G, Hughes/Schweizer 269 and Hiller UH-12E. The Robinson R22 was involved in…

The ATSB's aviation safety survey of commercial pilots, Common Flying Errors, has revealed that, violations of standard operating procedures were more prevalent in general aviation and were involved in 11.8% of all events. The survey asked pilots to identify the main factors contributing to errors and the defences they used to recover. Most errors occurred en route, distantly followed by flight preparation errors. All categories of pilot experienced errors while executing procedures en route, such as not completing their landing checklist, and misprocessing information from their operational…

The failure of officers to use modern navigation bridge management principles was the major factor in the grounding of the Bahamas registered passenger ship Astor during the ship's departure from Townsville at around 7 pm on 26 February 2004, according to an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation report released today. The ATSB report into the Astor grounding released today states that the ship grounded on its port side as it was turning from Townsville harbour into Platypus Channel. The ship heeled about three degrees to starboard and, after about three minutes, slid clear…