Fri "The Australian"
Crash plane lost way in detour for a lunch
By Gosia Kaszubska and Jesse Scott
July 30, 2004
A PLAN by six friends to tack lunch to the end of a business trip that ended in tragedy when their plane crashed into a hillside, may have struck problems with a navigational system.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigator Alex Hood said the Piper Cheyenne was up to 28km off course when it exploded on impact near Benalla in northeast Victoria about 11am on Wednesday.
Mr Hood said problems with the aircraft's navigational system was one of the "many lines of investigation" being followed by the bureau.
Killed in the crash were pilot Kerry Endicott, company director Robert Henderson, 62, his daughter Jacquie 33, her husband and RAAF helicopter pilot Alan Stark, 27, friend Belinda Andrews, 33, and Qantas jumbo jet pilot Geoff Brockie, 37.
The plane was flying to Benalla Airfield from Sydney's Bankstown Airport in low cloud and rain and Mr Endicott had told air traffic control he planned to land using his navigation instruments.
"The approach to the Benalla Airfield is well to the north of here," Mr Hood said near the crash site yesterday.
"Certainly there is no reason we've determined at this stage why the aircraft should be this far south or at the height it was flying," he said.
The plane crashed half way up a 150m hill in rugged, steep terrain that hampered efforts by police to recover the bodies of the pilot and passengers.
Robert Henderson's niece, Melinda Henderson, said the weekly inspection flight was so standard it was almost a commute. She described Mr Endicott as a life-long lover of planes with over 20,000 flying hours to his name, 1500 of them in the Piper PA-31T Cheyenne.
"He was a quiet guy. He took very good care of his airplane," she said.
Ms Henderson said the close group of friends were flying down for their weekly inspection of one of the family-owned manufacturing plants and then planned to visit local vineyards and grab lunch.
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