I am married to the son of Harold Gibson Lee (DickLee)and live in Canada.
His father passed away when he was 14 and does not have too many memories. Any thing you could tell us would give my husband a sense of who his father was.

You could email him at [email protected]

Dick is about to celebrate his 75th birthday and I am hoping you could share some memories. Thank you, Jackie Lee, Kelowna B.C. Canada

Sounds like the final report into this accident isn't too far away. Papers are reporting that the PNG AIC has handed their final draft report to the ATSB and all the other interested parties for final review before it goes public.

This report will be the most detailed accident report to ever come out of PNG. The report is expected to be released during the first quarter of 2011. No doubt it will be a very unbiased detailed report, and I hope that we all can learn from this tragic accident.

Harold Gibson Lee
 

I am able to assist with some information on Harold G Lee
You can contact me on
email
[email protected]

How might I contact you personally'

We are in Arizona for the winter and I just checked this sight.

I can be contacted by email @ [email protected]. thank you Jackie Lee

The final accident report is being released tomorrow Thursday 31st of March. If I'm wrong about this I apologize, as the information that I received didn't come from a reliable source !

Anyone heard anything else along these lines ?

Hmmm! Enough said!

I don't think there is enough said !

What the report highlights is the way that some operators have been operating incorrectly for years, what I'm specifically referring to is the co-pilot not being instrument rated. APNG is not the only operator who has put non instrument rated pilots in their RH seats, in an effort to fulfill the requirements to operate IFR. The report also displays a lack of surveillance by the regulator. As to how the co-pilot got his medical certificate is another issue in itself, reading in between the lines.

On the upside it looks like this accident has been a wake call for the industry in general, to lift their standards and this also includes the regulator. It's also good to see that new rules and changes are going to be made as a direct result of this accident.

It's also very good to see that APNG have pro actively hired some very experienced Twin Otter Captains since the accident, in an effort to raise their pilots experience levels, and from what I have personally observed, this really has payed off.

Incase anyone missed it
Investigation: AE-2009-050 - Controlled flight into terrain - 11 km south-east of Kokoda Airstrip, Papua New Guinea, 11 August 2009, P2-MCB, De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300

1978 Peter Giles in TGT
 

All of the Otter Pilots in Lae were interviewed at the inquest.



After I had been questioned and while I was sitting in the hot seat there was some discussion between the Talair Lawyer and the Coroner that somehow or other the Maintaince Release had gone missing and somehow or other there was no record of who flew the aircraft prior to Peter. I tried to interject but was told to leave the courtroom. I think with a lot of PNG prangs the legal systems just went through the motions and basically the Operators had all the power.



Pete had a Wife (Barbara) and I think the Kids names were Ryan and Tara. He was a really good guy and they were a nice family. The extra sad thing was that he had resigned from Talair and his house was packed up as he had accepted a job with Air Pacific. Barbara and the kids went South instead.

APNG WHAT HAPPENED TO ITS OTTERS
 

Bula guys/girls. As said what are they doing now , no otter only dash 8

Some of the Otters were sold to Hevilift, the rest are for sale

APNG only operate Dash 8s now, 14 of them in the fleet

Well you don't have to worry about Toomey these days, he is 'absolutely' a long way away from PNG and Australia. However APNG did get the Skytrans CEO and his chief footstool, the former Skytrans HOFO. You boys at APNG ought to do some really thorough research on these two and their time at Skytrans :=

You're correct, they aren't the only ones to do it. Unfortunately though their accident record including the deaths of around 90 people over 10 years is disgraceful. But of course the MD lives a life luxury in Australia and remains totally unaccountable.

AWFUL
 

Thats really sad but i guess apng is solely responsible for this deaths, but wats really shocking is that hevilift bought some of their otters, rumors say that they in hagen 6 OF THEM WITH NO PILOTS, also heard that they might want to send those otters to myanmar for hevilifts ops there., any truth in that

Maybe Hevilift could get the 8 helicopter pilots they just sacked to fly the otters.

The DHC8 accident report can't be far off being thrown out into the public domain.

why were they sacked, well im sitting in the office in nadi fiji pouring down since yesterday morning nadi river banks are broken this cud be another flood devastation

The Hevilift 8
 

Two B 412 helicopters coming off contract. Alot of experience being washed away there, unfortunately.
Good luck to them.

Not Hevilift's fault, is a sign of the times.

Gosh, i am trying to get into heavylift as otter commander,,,,,,,,,, need that 28days off