Page 105 - AA 2018_09

Warbirds

CONVAIR CRASH INTERIM
REPORT RELEASED
The South African Civil Aviation
Authority (SACAA) has released its
preliminary accident investigation
report into the crash of Convair
CV-340 ZS-BRV.
The historic airliner crashed
shortly after takeoff from
Pretoria Wonderboom Airport,
South Africa on July 10 with
16 passengers, two pilots and a
maintenance engineer on board.
The South African maintenance
engineer died in the accident,
while the two Australian pilots,
one current and one recently-
retired with Qantas, were seriously
injured. Restoration of the Uiver Memorial’s
The preliminary report ex-RAAF DC-2 is making progress.
published on August 12 said the uiver memorial community trust
aircraft “experienced a left engine
fire after rotation during takeoff”,
before striking powerlines and which had also been acquired from been sold to Ron Fisher, who had that they do not know what to do
colliding with a factory building. Rovos Rail, from South Africa to planned to build an air museum with. Do not discard them. The
The SACAA said recovered Australia in August 2016. (HARS at Deniliquin. Meanwhile the two Memorial Trust would love to hear
GoPro video footage from the had no involvement with the Ceres rebuild projects have gone to from you.
cockpit showed the captain was the accident aircraft.) buyers at Geelong, Victoria. Can you help? If so the Uiver
pilot flying, while the first officer Perhaps surprisingly for a Don still owns an Auster and is Memorial Trust would love to
was doing the radio work. The preliminary accident report, which also currently building a Legend hear from you. Email info@
footage also showed the LAME are normally factual in nature, turboprop homebuilt. uivermemorial.org.au, or Ian
operating the engine controls. it found that “crew resource CAN YOU HELP WITH UIVER Cosser from the trust can be
“The GoPro ... shows that the management in the cockpit was IMAGES? contacted direct at (02) 6021 5110.
pilots were not sure if they had found lacking”. Meanwhile progress on the
retracted the landing gears, as they The investigation is continuing. As regular Warbirds readers know, DC-2’s restoration continues,
can be heard asking each other DON BROWN COLLECTION SOLD at Albury, NSW former RAAF with construction of a fuselage
whether the gears are out or not. It Douglas DC-2 A30-11 is being jig underway, two new tool kits
also shows that though the pilots From Kongwak, Victoria comes rebuilt for display at the airport purchased from a local tool shop,
and LAME were informed of the news that a good amount of the to represent KLM DC-2 PH-AJU and a compactus installed to
left engine fire, they were asking Don Brown aircraft collection has Uiver, which famously landed at consolidate small parts, the trust
each other which engine was on been sold off. the local racecourse after becoming reports.
fire,” the preliminary report reads. Don had been an avid collector lost in bad weather during the If you would like to see the
The GoPro footage also showed of aircraft over the years, acquiring 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from restoration yourself, the trust
that “at no stage did the pilots or a T-28D Trojan, a Winjeel, a London to Melbourne. is holding an open day on
the LAME discuss or attempt to Boomerang project, several Ceres Now the Uiver Memorial Saturday October 20, which will
extinguish the left engine fire, as cropdusters and a Wirraway Community Trust is actively be followed by a ‘Jiving for the
the left engine fire extinguishing project. seeking photos of the original 1934 Uiver’ fundraising jazz dinner that
system was never activated”. It would appear that no-one DC-2 taking part in the air race. evening.
It said the emergency wanted to buy the collection Do you have photos of the Check the trust’s Facebook
procedures from the inflight complete and Don elected to sell aircraft or the crew, perhaps taken page, facebook.com/UIVER.ABX
checklist contained in the aircraft select parts as buyers agreed upon at Albury or Melbourne during for further details.
flight manual (AFM) were not a price. It is reported that the or after the race? It could be that Contact Dave: flyer02@optusnet.com.au
followed after the crew was made Wirraway and the Winjeel have people have photos taken in 1934
aware that the number 1 engine
had caught fire.
The scenic flight took place
shortly before the Convair, which
was built in 1954, was due to be
ferried to the Aviodrome museum
in Lelystad in the Netherlands. It
had been donated to the museum
by South African travel company
Rovos Rail. The RNZAF Historic Flight’s
The two Australian pilots, Ross Harvard pictured after its
Kelly and Douglas Haywood, forced landing near Ohakea in
were members of HARS, and had mid-August. nzdf
flown HARS’s own Convair 440,
SEPTEMBER 2018 105