4.00pm
The pilot of a plane which crashed on Hamilton Island and killed all six people on board, including a New Zealand family, had alcohol and drugs in his system, a crash report released today said.
Hillsborough couple Kevin and Joanne Bowles, their 9-year-old daughter Sophie and 6-year-old son Michael died when
the single-engine Piper Cherokee 6-300 plane crashed on the North Queensland island on September 26, 2002.
Two other people were killed in the crash, an Australian pilot and an American honeymooner whose wife was on an earlier plane, with friends of the Bowles family.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said the pilot, Andrew Morris, 27, of Brisbane, had cannabis in his system, had consumed alcohol and slept for less than seven hours the night before the flight and had taken panadeine.
The report said there was insufficient evidence to definitely link these factors to the accident.
The investigation found that the aircraft's engine began operating abnormally soon after take-off, the pilot initiated a steepening right turn at low level and the aircraft stalled at a height from which the pilot was unable to recover.
It said the reasons for the engine problems and why the pilot took such a sharp turn could not be conclusively established due to lack of evidence. But the report said it was possibly linked to inadequate training and/or pilot physiological factors.
"But the possible adverse effects on pilot performance of fatigue, recent cannabis use, and post-alcohol impairment linked to 'Coriolis' and 'G-excess' phenomena could not be discounted."
In response the ATSB has released research papers and recommendations into the effects of alcohol and cannabis on pilot performance.
ATSB said the operator has initiated safety actions including pilot retraining covering engine failure over water, fatigue and work schedule management and use of full runway length for all takeoffs.
The Bowles family had boarded the aircraft after spending the day snorkelling and swimming at the Great Barrier Reef.
They were staying at nearby Club Med on Lindeman Island for the school holidays with friends.
- HERALD STAFF
Full ATSB report
