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"NO NEGLIGENCE" IN
PLANE CRASH
"It is not up to me to go into the whys and
wherefores of the crash but I am satisfied that the
plane was airworthy and that there was no negligence
on the part of the company or the pilot," said the City
Coroner (Mr. R. P. Rodriguez) yesterday.
He was delivering his find-
ing at the adjourned inquest
concerning the deaths of the 18
persons who were killed in the
early morning crash of a Mac-
Robertson-Miller DC3 airliner
at South Guildford on July 2.
"My sympathy goes to the relatives
of the victims," Mr.
Rodriguez said. "However, I
am satisfied that the passengers
were not aware that anything
had happened and met their
deaths without fear or pain.
"I am not in a position to tell
how the plane crashed," he con-
tinued. "I think the only man
who could tell us that is the
pilot, who is no longer here. It
would be unfair to make any
allegations against him. But I
am satisfied that everything was
in order." He also mentioned
that he believed that both en-
gines were functioning norm-
ally at the time of the crash.
Mr. Rodriguez paid a tribute
to the safety record of the air-
line and to commercial flying
generally, in the State. "We
have been singularly free from
fatal air crashes," he went on.
"This was our first major air
crash. Our air record is a good
one, particularly when you
consider that 12 persons were
killed in road accidents last
month. I hope the tragedy
won't alarm the public as far as
air travel is concerned. It was
unfortunate and I hope it will
never happen again."
Previous Dive
Alleged
When proceedings were con-
tinued yesterday Mr. F. Cur-
ran (for relatives of two of the
deceased) said that he believed
that the plane was not an
original DC3 but a converted
Army aircraft and that it dived
in a similar fashion in the north
about 11 months ago. Mr. Cyril
Kleinig was the pilot at the
time.
Mr. Rodriguez: That is your
statement. Air pockets may
cause a sudden drop, you know.
I was a passenger in a Halifax
once which dropped 1,000ft.
Mr. Curran: I have a witness
who was a passenger in the
plane who will say that the
same plane dived suddenly from
7,000ft. to 4,000ft. and that
passengers were injured.
Mr. K. H. Olney (for the air-
line company) asked that the
company should be given the
opportunity to acquaint the
Court with the facts.
Mr. Rodriguez: Mr. Kleinig
said in his evidence that it did
not happen. I will accept Mr.
Kleinig's statement.
He added that he was not
concerned with what had hap-
pened 11 months before. He
had only to be satisfied that
there was no criminal negli-
gence on the part of the com-
pany or the pilot.
Visibility At
Guildford
Eorl H. Fry, superintendent of
air navigation and safety in
western region of the Depart-
ment of Civil Aviation, was
recalled so that Mr. Curran
could ask whether the plane
was a converted Army aircraft
and how visibility was esti-
mated at the Guildford airport.
Witness could not say whether
the plane was a converted DC3
or not. He suggested that the
company would have a better
knowledge of this. Visibility
was ascertained by meteorolo-
gists at the airport by various
means. They considered visi-
bility to be ten miles on the
morning of the crash. For safe
flying it was considered that
visibility should be three miles
by night and two miles by day.
Sgt. F. W. Reilly assisted the
Coroner. Mr. N. Good ap-
peared for the Department of
Civil Aviation and Mr. G. W.
Gwynne for the insurers of the
aircraft.
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