From the Adelaide Advertiser today:
Air watchdog failings
A CORONER has been stunned by the failings of Australia’s aviation watchdog, saying a pilot who killed himself and a passenger should not have been flying.
Queensland coroner John Hutton has found the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) knew 60-year-old pilot Barry Hempel had a history of seizures and safety breaches yet did not ground him.
The veteran aerobatic pilot and his 35-year-old passenger Ian Lovell died when Mr Hempel's plane plunged into the ocean off South Stradbroke Island in October 2008.
Moments before the aircraft crashed, a panicked Mr Lovell could be heard on the plane's transmission system saying: “Oh my god, what are you doing? Put it up ...”
But there was no response from the pilot. The coroner found the pilot had likely suffered an epileptic seizure at the controls, sending the plane hurtling into the sea.
Tragically, Mr Lovell's girlfriend had bought him the joy flight as a birthday gift.
DF.