Merged: Milne Bay Crash
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Shocked...
As many have already stated I'm shocked and having trouble processing this... Les taught me to fly the MU-2 in the early 80's... we also spent many a day behind the boat waterskiing on Lake Moogerah... He was one of the good guys...
RIP Mate
Mark
RIP Mate
Mark
A sad, sad day. I can only echo the sentiment here of many others. Simply, without Les's unwavering support of many young aviators, the careers of many who fly jets around Australia and the rest of the world today, would not exist. Including mine. RIP Sir Les
Very sad news for many from the Australian Avaition and PNG community. I for one wouldn't be where I am today if Les didn't give me the opportunities that he did! May he Rest in Peace.
Last edited by Break Right; 10th May 2011 at 12:15.
RIP Wiz. Ozbash 2002, "Daisy" and all the other great stuff. 
Also killed was marine pilot Chris Hart, whom I sailed with in the mid to late 1980s on the "Howard Smith". Affectionately known as "Choff" (Chief Officer), Chris was hugely entertaining and a skilled and competent Master Mariner, and was a memorable 1st Mate.
Chris did his cadetship on the "Uganda". It was used as a hospital ship during the Falklands conflict, then sold off. Once, Chris and I were on the "Howard Smith" at Kaohsiung, and we passsed the "Uganda" lying on her side in the shallows, having drifted from the anchorage during a typhoon whilst awaiting scrapping. I still have the photo I took and it is a sad sight to see a proud ship dying like that.
Chris was very moved by the sight, saying it had been the happiest ship he ever sailed on when it served as a cruise-ship. He also related the final voyage of the "Himalaya" in which he had been a crew-member. I sailed to England in 1956 on that same ship. Truly it is a small world.
So I say a very sad farewell to my friends "Choff" and "Wiz". I am much the poorer for your departure. 
Also killed was marine pilot Chris Hart, whom I sailed with in the mid to late 1980s on the "Howard Smith". Affectionately known as "Choff" (Chief Officer), Chris was hugely entertaining and a skilled and competent Master Mariner, and was a memorable 1st Mate.
Chris did his cadetship on the "Uganda". It was used as a hospital ship during the Falklands conflict, then sold off. Once, Chris and I were on the "Howard Smith" at Kaohsiung, and we passsed the "Uganda" lying on her side in the shallows, having drifted from the anchorage during a typhoon whilst awaiting scrapping. I still have the photo I took and it is a sad sight to see a proud ship dying like that.
Chris was very moved by the sight, saying it had been the happiest ship he ever sailed on when it served as a cruise-ship. He also related the final voyage of the "Himalaya" in which he had been a crew-member. I sailed to England in 1956 on that same ship. Truly it is a small world.
So I say a very sad farewell to my friends "Choff" and "Wiz". I am much the poorer for your departure.
Last edited by criticalmass; 3rd Sep 2010 at 03:36.
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The Chronicle newspaper (Toowoomba) today advises the surviving FO was 25 year old New Zealand born Kelby Cheyne from Toowoomba.
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Similar shot from another angle.
Sole survivor of PNG crash, New Zealand pilot Kelby Cheyne, recovering in hospital | The Australian
TB
Sole survivor of PNG crash, New Zealand pilot Kelby Cheyne, recovering in hospital | The Australian
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V sad indeed. I used to work in PNG and also used to work with International SOS elsewhere. Any news on the indentity of the New Zealander? I hope the initials are not RF...
The FO is Kelby Cheyne.
Bodies recovered from PNG crash site - Seven News Queensland
Bodies recovered from PNG crash site - Seven News Queensland
Was he really the FO ? Info I heard was that Les was doing ICUS with a new captain.
Any idea when they will be returning to Oz, and when/where the service will be ?
Any idea when they will be returning to Oz, and when/where the service will be ?
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Those who have been to PNG will know this press report Moving farewell | The National demonstrates the sort of people you mostly find there
Read the first half and you will have a picture of the kindly and respectful citizens of PNG.
Moving farewell
Source:
By STEPHANIE ELIZAH
MISIMA Islanders were in mourning as they turned up yesterday at Bwagaioa station to say goodbye to four expatriates who were killed in a plane crash on Tuesday.
Government offices, businesses and schools on this Milne Bay island were closed as islanders and public servants paid their respect to the victims of the crash.
The laid-back island has suddenly become the focus of world attention 48 hours earlier when a Cessna Citation jet, with three Australians and two New Zealanders, crashed upon landing in bad weather.
The islanders came in droves, in their best dress, to farewell the four people whom many of them had probably never met.
School children led the farewell entourage, forming a “guard of honour” from the island’s health centre morgue to the airport where a Airlines PNG Twin Otter was waiting to take the bodies to Port Moresby.
The line stretched about 500m between the morgue and the airstrip. All district administration vehicles also lined up for the farewell.
The islanders sang traditional hymns, some shed tears and many threw flowers on the path leading to the waiting aircraft.
The bodies, wrapped in body-bags, were carried by district health and administration workers.
“We were preparing the bodies when school children and public servants lined up to pay their last respect,” Samarai-Murua district administrator Hayden Abraham said from Misima.
Shortly after midday, the Twin Otter left for Port Moresby where the bodies will be treated and handed over to their immediate family members.
In Port Moresby, investigators announced that the Trans Air Citation jet’s black box had been recovered from the crash site.
This instrument, which records operation details of the aircraft, will help investigators better un-derstand the cause of the crash which killed the four and injured the 25-year-old co-pilot of the chartered aircraft.
Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Commission chief executive officer David Inau said five investigators had been assigned to the case.
“I have formally invited the Australian transport safety bureau to assist with the investigations. I have already a team of three on site working with us,” he said.
The Australian High Commission said those who died were Port Moresby-based Trans Air co-owner Lesley Wright, Richard “Chris” Hart and Darren Moore. A New Zealand citizen killed was unnamed.
Co-pilot Kelby Cheyne survived the crash.
Commission officials and a medical team travelled to Misima to assist with Cheyne’s medical evacuation and to facilitate the repatriation of the remains of the deceased.
It said it was working with police and local authorities to have the remains repatriated to Australia at the earliest opportunity.
The high commission said consular officers in Port Moresby and Canberra were working with the airline company and local authorities to keep the families of those affected by the crash informed on developments.
Officials were also in contact with their New Zealand counterparts.
Disco Stu
Read the first half and you will have a picture of the kindly and respectful citizens of PNG.
Moving farewell
Source:
By STEPHANIE ELIZAH
MISIMA Islanders were in mourning as they turned up yesterday at Bwagaioa station to say goodbye to four expatriates who were killed in a plane crash on Tuesday.
Government offices, businesses and schools on this Milne Bay island were closed as islanders and public servants paid their respect to the victims of the crash.
The laid-back island has suddenly become the focus of world attention 48 hours earlier when a Cessna Citation jet, with three Australians and two New Zealanders, crashed upon landing in bad weather.
The islanders came in droves, in their best dress, to farewell the four people whom many of them had probably never met.
School children led the farewell entourage, forming a “guard of honour” from the island’s health centre morgue to the airport where a Airlines PNG Twin Otter was waiting to take the bodies to Port Moresby.
The line stretched about 500m between the morgue and the airstrip. All district administration vehicles also lined up for the farewell.
The islanders sang traditional hymns, some shed tears and many threw flowers on the path leading to the waiting aircraft.
The bodies, wrapped in body-bags, were carried by district health and administration workers.
“We were preparing the bodies when school children and public servants lined up to pay their last respect,” Samarai-Murua district administrator Hayden Abraham said from Misima.
Shortly after midday, the Twin Otter left for Port Moresby where the bodies will be treated and handed over to their immediate family members.
In Port Moresby, investigators announced that the Trans Air Citation jet’s black box had been recovered from the crash site.
This instrument, which records operation details of the aircraft, will help investigators better un-derstand the cause of the crash which killed the four and injured the 25-year-old co-pilot of the chartered aircraft.
Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Commission chief executive officer David Inau said five investigators had been assigned to the case.
“I have formally invited the Australian transport safety bureau to assist with the investigations. I have already a team of three on site working with us,” he said.
The Australian High Commission said those who died were Port Moresby-based Trans Air co-owner Lesley Wright, Richard “Chris” Hart and Darren Moore. A New Zealand citizen killed was unnamed.
Co-pilot Kelby Cheyne survived the crash.
Commission officials and a medical team travelled to Misima to assist with Cheyne’s medical evacuation and to facilitate the repatriation of the remains of the deceased.
It said it was working with police and local authorities to have the remains repatriated to Australia at the earliest opportunity.
The high commission said consular officers in Port Moresby and Canberra were working with the airline company and local authorities to keep the families of those affected by the crash informed on developments.
Officials were also in contact with their New Zealand counterparts.
Disco Stu
To be trapped in a burning aircraft is every airman's nightmare. In small jets, the cockpit rarely has side windows that could serve as emergency exits and if the crew survive the crash they have to go aft to escape. Example - the ditching of the Westwind.
Many years ago the United States Air Force (USAF) lost several F80 Shooting Star fighters that over-ran on landing or on high speed aborts. In those days ejection seats were not zero speed - ground level devices, and if the aircraft canopy was warped or jammed the pilots could not escape. The USAF introduced canopy breaker tools, rather like a heavy solid knife, that was installed in the cockpit and which could break through the thick glass of jet canopies.
Following the USAF experience the RAAF installed the same canopy breaker tool in certain types including the Sabre, CT4, and Macchi jet trainer.
The first life was saved soon after when a Sabre ingested birds after lift off and forced landed into a rice paddy field. It caught fire and the pilot was unable to open the canopy more than one inch. He un-clipped the knife from its installation next to the canopy, and hacked his way through the canopy to safety. Visit the RAAF Museum at Point Cook and you can still see the canopy breaker knives installed in the CT4 and Macchi.
The RAAF still have canopy breaker knives in some of their aircraft. If an ounce of prevention is better than cure (smoke detectors in houses for example) - then operators of small jets (or any light aircraft where a jammed canopy may prevent escape from fire), would be well advised to fit a canopy breaker tool in the cockpit to give crew a fighting chance of escaping a fire should the canopy jam or has no exit capability in an over-run such as the Citation at Milne Bay.
Many years ago the United States Air Force (USAF) lost several F80 Shooting Star fighters that over-ran on landing or on high speed aborts. In those days ejection seats were not zero speed - ground level devices, and if the aircraft canopy was warped or jammed the pilots could not escape. The USAF introduced canopy breaker tools, rather like a heavy solid knife, that was installed in the cockpit and which could break through the thick glass of jet canopies.
Following the USAF experience the RAAF installed the same canopy breaker tool in certain types including the Sabre, CT4, and Macchi jet trainer.
The first life was saved soon after when a Sabre ingested birds after lift off and forced landed into a rice paddy field. It caught fire and the pilot was unable to open the canopy more than one inch. He un-clipped the knife from its installation next to the canopy, and hacked his way through the canopy to safety. Visit the RAAF Museum at Point Cook and you can still see the canopy breaker knives installed in the CT4 and Macchi.
The RAAF still have canopy breaker knives in some of their aircraft. If an ounce of prevention is better than cure (smoke detectors in houses for example) - then operators of small jets (or any light aircraft where a jammed canopy may prevent escape from fire), would be well advised to fit a canopy breaker tool in the cockpit to give crew a fighting chance of escaping a fire should the canopy jam or has no exit capability in an over-run such as the Citation at Milne Bay.