A Goonengerry pilot who crashed his ultra light into the Clarence River at Ewingar last April, killing an 11-year-old girl, will stand trial in the District Court.
John Patrick Crumpton appeared in Lismore Local Court yesterday supported by family members and he was represented by his solicitor, Ms O'Shannessy.
The then 54-year-old stands accused of hitting a powerline then crashing his Maule M-5 light plane into the Clarence River on April 12, 2014.
Kayla Whitten was killed in the crash.
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau report on the incident released in January found that after hitting powerlines, the plane flipped and came to rest with the cabin upside down and underwater.
Both Mr. Crumpton and Kayla's father, 36, escaped through a forward door, but they could not free Kayla from the back of the flooded cabin.
Mr. Crumpton was charged with manslaughter, causing reckless grievous bodily harm, flying an aircraft below 500 feet, reckless wounding and operating an aircraft recklessly endangering a person or property.
On March 20, an additional charge of operating an aircraft recklessly to endanger the life of a person was laid under Section 20 A1 of Civil Aviation Act.
Mr. Heffernan also asked Magistrate David Heilpern to amend the wording of two charges.
The manslaughter charge was amended to include the words "did unlawfully kill Kayla Whitton" by Mr. Heilpern.
The operating an aircraft recklessly charge was amended to include "did operate VH-HOG being reckless as to whether the manner of operation could endanger a person, namely David Whitton".
Ms.. O'Shannessy told the court charges of flying an aircraft below 500 feet and operating an aircraft recklessly endangering the life of a person would be listed as backup charges to be considered during sentencing.
Mr. Crumpton waived his right to a committal hearing in the District Court.
Mr. Heilpern adjourned Mr Crumpton's matters until a date in May at Lismore District Court.
Original article can be found here: http://www.northernstar.com.au
What happened
On 12 April 2014, a Maule M-5 aircraft, registered VH-HOG, collided with a powerline spanning the Clarence River, approximately 50 km west-south-west of Casino, New South Wales. The pilot was accompanied on the private category flight by two passengers, an adult and a child. The aircraft departed controlled flight after the wirestrike and impacted the water, coming to rest inverted with the cabin submerged.
The pilot and front-seat adult passenger escaped the cockpit through one of the forward doors and attempted to free the rear-seat child passenger from the flooded cabin. After repeated attempts by the pilot to open the rear-right cabin door, the rear-seat passenger was recovered through a cockpit door. Sustained attempts to resuscitate the rear-seat passenger were unsuccessful.
What the ATSB found
The aircraft was capable of normal operation prior to the wirestrike. The weather conditions in the vicinity were suitable for visual flight.
The wirestrike and resulting loss of aircraft control was an unintended consequence of the pilot’s spur of the moment decision to fly at very low level along the river, in an unfamiliar environment and below the minimum stipulated height for flights over unpopulated areas. The pilot reported seeing the powerline cables just before the collision, but with insufficient time to avoid a wirestrike. The pilot did not hold an approval to conduct low-flying operations and had not completed any training to identify the hazards associated with such operations. The powerline was not fitted with visual warning markers, nor was there any requirement for such markers in this case.
The submerged, flooded and inverted cabin increased the difficulty experienced by the occupants in exiting the aircraft. Furthermore, impact damage sustained by the right wing likely rendered the rear-right cabin door unusable as an emergency exit, delaying the recovery of the rear-seat passenger.
Safety message
This accident reaffirms the risk of unnecessary and unauthorized low flying.
Operations at low altitude expose an aircraft and its occupants to a number of environment‑specific hazards and result in significantly reduced safety margins. Powerline cables and other wires, which can be encountered even in relatively remote locations, are typically very difficult to see and present a critical hazard to any low-flying aircraft. In recognition of these and the other specific risks and hazards of low-level flying, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority requires pilots to receive special training and endorsements before conducting low-level operations.
The operation of an aircraft in close proximity to terrain or water limits the opportunity to recover from any loss of control or respond to any in-flight emergency when compared to flight at higher altitudes.
http://www.atsb.gov.au
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