The Luck That Parted Two Friends
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday June 2, 2000
Every two months or so Graham Roberts meets his friend and colleague Neil Marshall in Sydney and the two fly to Whyalla.
They're on union business in a union town: Mr Roberts is president of the Australian Workers Union, Mr Marshall an industrial officer with the Metal Workers Union.
They'd organised to go as usual on Wednesday, but at the last minute Mr Roberts was delayed in Wollongong. He changed to a later flight.
It saved his life.
Yesterday Mr Roberts was still coming to terms with the two sides of his extraordinary luck. He's alive, but his friend is dead, lost with seven others in the waters of Spencer Gulf when the Whyalla Airlines Piper Chieftain fell out of the sky about 7pm a few minutes before it was due to land.
``I'm still in a state of shock. The loss of Neil and all those other people I just can't believe what has happened.
``Neil was one of the key union officials who helped unite all steelworkers for the common cause. I'll miss him and so will steel union members right around Australia," he said.
Two cousins of the South Australian Premier, Mr John Olsen, were also lost in the crash. Mr Olsen was close to the couple, aged in their mid-40s, from Cleve, a small farming town.
By late last night only two bodies had been retrieved from the cold and sometimes shark-filled waters near Whyalla.
The search yesterday afternoon spread beyond the defined grid search area of 10 by 15 nautical miles inside Spencer Gulf to the land on either side, but nothing other than three slicks of oil were found.
No explanation has been given for the failure of both the plane's engines, but Whyalla Airlines has grounded all flights. The airline's proprietor, Mr Chris Brougham, who had friends on board, said he was deeply shocked by the tragedy and had ``no idea at all" why it had happened. He said the 21-year-old pilot was an experienced flyer with more than 2,000 hours flying time.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority revealed last night that the crash aircraft was involved in an emergency landing in the South Australian desert three years ago after running out of fuel.
The authority released details of the June 1997 accident in which the aeroplane was forced to land 200 kilometres short of its destination. The plane had been chartered for a flight from Cook to Port Augusta. None of the nine people on board was injured.
One of the theories for Wednesday's crash is that the plane ran out of fuel on its way from Adelaide to Whyalla, though the Herald understands that records show it filled up with 270 litres of fuel before it left, which should have been enough.
Investigators are believed to have ruled out fuel contamination because the aircraft did not use Mobil avgas.
A spokesman for CASA, Mr Peter Gibson, confirmed the 1997 incident, saying it had triggered an investigation into Whyalla Airlines.
``Regulatory action was taken against the company.Since then we have kept a close watch on them," he said.
``Like any audit, we found things that needed improvement but there was nothing serious that would have warranted closing them down."
He confirmed there had been a parting of the ways between the airline and its chief pilot, Mr David Usher, who was hired in 1998. The previous chief pilot, Mr Brougham, was reinstated after being cleared by a CASA inspection and interview.
Mr Usher said yesterday he had left the airline about seven weeks ago but declined to explain the circumstances.
Mr Usher, who was at Whyalla airport, clearly upset by the tragedy, said: ``The full story will be told in an inquiry."
Police last night still had not released the names of those lost. Besides Mr Neil Marshall, Mr Olsen's relatives and the pilot, they are believed to include a well-known Whyalla lawyer, Mr Richard Deegan, and two women and a man, all from Whyalla.
© 2000 Sydney Morning Herald
