Crash pilot was under investigation
AUSTRALIA: The pilot of a plane that crashed near an Australian airport, killing all five people on board, was the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau that had been deferred on three separate occasions.
Max Quartermain’s small aircraft was carrying four wealthy American passengers to King Island to play golf when it crashed into a shopping mall at Melbourne’s Essendon Airport on Tuesday.
Quartermain, the 63-year-old owner and pilot for charter company Corporate and Leisure Aviation, faced referral to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and possible suspension of his aviation licence over a ‘‘near collision’’ with another plane at Mt Hotham, Victoria in September 2015.
But the draft investigation report has been delayed for more than eight months because of ‘‘competing priorities and workload of the investigator in charge’’, according to a recent update from the bureau.
‘‘Completion of the draft investigation report has been further delayed by the involvement of the investigator in charge on other aviation safety investigations and tasks.’’
The government department now expects the final report to be finalised by May.
The investigation was launched after Quartermain was at the helm of a Beechcraft B200 King Air that took 87 minutes to reach Mt Hotham Airport, a flight that usually takes 38 minutes.
Quartermain was transporting Audi customers to an exclusive event at the alpine resort when he came within 1.8 kilometres horizontally and 90 metres vertically of a plane from Sydney that was ferrying passengers to the same function. In bad conditions, he was forced to abandon his first landing attempt.
The pilot of the plane from Sydney claimed Quartermain’s actions were ‘‘unsafe’’ in an incident report to the bureau.
At one point, it was alleged that Quartermain radioed to say he was 10 nautical miles (19.5km) west of Mt Hotham, before correcting himself to say he was actually 10 nautical miles east.
It is understood that some of the passengers on the flight were left badly shaken and insisted that Audi find a replacement pilot for the return flight to Melbourne.
The bureau confirmed it would investigate the navigation and autopilot system fitted to Quartermain’s plane, which was a different craft to the one destroyed in the Essendon crash.
According to the Corporate and Leisure Aviation website, Quartermain was the holder and operator of an Air Operations Certificate for more than 38 years and had an ‘‘impeccable safety record’’.
A spokesman for the company declined to comment yesterday.
- Fairfax