Australian Flying - July 2018

(^56) Lessons from a logbook
AUSTRALIAN FLYING July – August 2018
Search for Aeroprakt A32

Aeroprakt A32 Vixxen

http://www.foxbat.com.au

Cruise 115+ knots

Stall 27 knots

Carry 210+ kgs after full fuel

Average under 20 litres an hour

Believe it!

He was a big man and would have
had no problem overpowering the
immaculate, but small-framed, Ken.
I still get the horrors when I think
about that. I have only once had to
struggle with a guy in a cockpit, and
it is, to me, the most scary thing that
can happen to a pilot.
Henry Hunt
While we are on the subject of
death and misery there were three
more accidents at around that time.
The first was a fellow named
Henry Hunt who was the
managing director of Williams
Hunt, the General Motors
dealership that owned the Beech
franchise at the time.
He was demonstrating a Beech
Musketeer at Wonderboom.
There were three species of
Musketeer: they came with
horsepowers of 150, 180 and

200. They should have been good
     aircraft. They were exceptionally
     well built, roomy, comfortable and

solid. Unfortunately it was their

build quality and solidness that

let them down, because it made

them very heavy. Even the 200-hp

model had anaemic performance,

and the other two were pitiful.

As far as I remember Henry

was f lying the mighty 200-hp

version. So impressed was he by

all that power that he thought

he would use it to impress the

passengers, and us spectators,

with a stall-turn/wingover type of

thing, with four up.

Neither the aeroplane nor the

pilot were up to that sort of thing.

Hel lost it and spun in. And so four

people died in front of our eyes.

Unbelievably, the next year, at an

airshow, not at Wonderboom this

time, the Company’s new CEO,

whose name I have forgotten, and

three passengers did exactly the

same thing, but in a Bonanza this

time. Again, killing all on board.

Finally, Fungus Mackenzie did

an almost identical thing at Parys

in another Beechcraft – I think it

was a Baron this time.

Lourenco Marques

Comanche

And to finish off this morbid

chapter, we lost another salesman,

whose name I have forgotten –

actually I think he just acted for us

part time.

Anyhow, he had a customer

who had just bought a single

Comanche. He and the customer,

plus two young ladies set sail for

Lourenco Marques (now Muputo)

for the weekend. They f lew into

cloud, without instrument ratings,

lost it and spiralled into the

ground, killing all four.

Again, the rellies of the deceased

decided to go Placo to compensate

them for their losses. The fact that

the buyer had already bought the

aircraft and the purpose of the trip

was a dirty weekend at the coast

rather spoiled their chances of

screwing Placo.

The court case was very

interesting. It was held in Pretoria

and presided over by Judge Cecil

Margo, a WWII pilot with a

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/PETER CHRISTENER