ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 27164
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| Date: | Thursday 30 April 1981 |
| Time: | 18:44 LT |
| Type: |  Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain |
| Owner/operator: | Royal Flying Doctor Service |
| Registration: | VH-KMS |
| MSN: | 31-7712056 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 5 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Boulder, 4 km E of Kalgoorlie. WA -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Ambulance |
| Departure airport: | Jamieson, WA |
| Kalgoorlie, WA (KGI/PKG) | |
| Investigating agency: | BASI |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On 30th of April 1981, Flight Nurse Judith Osborne, Pilot Arthur Turner, passenger Alexander Coxall and infant patient Stephen Lane, lost their lives in this accident.
The plane was returning from Jamieson, WA, after dark when it was hit by a severe squall at Boulder, just 4 km east of Kalgoorlie. The aircraft entered a dust cloud and the turbulent conditions took the craft through varying altitudes. It then collided with a head frame from a mine shaft. The left wing was torn off and the plane crashed to the ground.
It was found that the pilot handled the aircraft skilfully – righting it after it turned upside down. There was no preexisting malfunction or fault contributing to the accident. Sixteen year old patient Daphne McLean was the sole survivor; she was seriously hurt but recovered.
A memorial stone was erected at the RFDS Base at Kalgoorlie Airport: the memorial shows the face of flight nurse Judith Osborne who was killed in the accident. The memorial stone comes out of one of the goldmines at Kalgoorlie. It holds a certain amount of gold, as the names of those killed are picked out in "real gold" lettering.
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Additional information about the cause of the accident, weather conditions and holding is included in the YouTube video from the 22 minute mark.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. http://www.flydoc-australia.de/englisch/pdf/2006-07-21_Kalgoorlie_E.pdf
2. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.baaa-acro.com/1981/archives/crash-of-a-piper-pa-31-navajo-chieftain-in-australia-5-killed/]
3. https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/5226526/198104679.pdf
Images:
Kalgoorlie 2015 Memorial plaque to accident.
Media:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Sep-2008 01:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 21-Apr-2014 15:05 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 22-Mar-2015 09:22 | Dr Stephen Langford | Updated [Embed code, Narrative] |
| 07-Sep-2015 12:13 | Dr Stephen Langford | Updated [Photo, ] |
| 26-Sep-2017 21:18 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Cn, Location, Source, Embed code] |
| 26-Sep-2017 21:18 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 29-Oct-2019 17:51 | Uli Elch | Updated [Aircraft type] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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