Second anniversary of air tragedy

Friday, 18 May 2007 10:05

Dozens of people gathered at Injinoo airport early on the morning of May 7 to commemorate the event which two years ago left an indelible imprint on the five communities of the NPA.

Image

Reverend Erris and Mary Eseli presided over the ceremony which paid tribute to the 15 people who perished in the Lockhart River Plane Crash in 2005.

Their son, Fred Bowie, passed away in the accident and the sadness they feel is clearly palpable.

“It still seems like yesterday,” said Rev. Eseli at the gathering held later that day at the Injinoo Community Hall.

Fred, an accomplished athlete, was one of the many from Injinoo who was taken in the prime of his life.

“My wife and I still struggle and we find consolation with faith, family and community support.”

He was glad that the Anniversary coincided with a public holiday, as the celebration could be celebrated from dawn till dusk.

“Having this feast at the end of the day is very important,” he said of the evening supper, “as everyone can participate by gathering food then coming together to eat, and remember.”  

Injinoo Mayor Tolowa Nona worked closely with three young apprentices who perished. “They were in their last year.” He recalled wistfully: “They were strong young men, role models, and future leaders.” 

Patricia Nona, Area coordinator for NPA Health Services, who attended the morning service, said “everyone was in tears”.

People are still asking “did it really happen?”

She still recalls the shock she felt from the ‘phone text she received containing the names of the passengers. “It had such a big impact on all the communities in the NPA.”

Miss Nona oversaw the emergency recovery team immediately following the crash.

“There was a concerted effort by all related departments to ease the shock felt by families directly affected.”

Queensland Health provided grief councillors, and the FRC, Queensland police, and ambulance and volunteers, worked together with the five communities.

“Everyone was disoriented,” Miss Nona said “but everyone supported each other”.

The voluminous tome, the Final Accident Report issued by Australian Safety Transport Bureau only a month ago, is the first stage in the formal investigation of the event.

“The report is all very well,” said Injinoo Cr Gordon Solomon, who lost his son Frank Billy, “but the findings are too late for the families directly involved in the tragedy.”

ATSB report found: The accident was almost certainly the result of controlled flight into terrain, that is, an airworthy aircraft under the control of the flight crew was flown unintentionally into terrain, probably with no prior awareness by the crew of the aircraft’s proximity to terrain. The investigation report identifies a range of contributing and other safety factors relating to the crew of the aircraft, Transair’s processes, regulatory oversight of Transair by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, and RNAV (GNSS) approach design and chart presentation. It also details safety action taken by various agencies to address the identified safety issues, and includes safety recommendations relating to those safety issues that had not been addressed by relevant agencies at the time of publication of this report.

He added: “A positive outcome at the (impending) inquest would make those families feel better.” 

In other developments from the air tragedy, the inquest has been postponed, and will get under way on June 13. The inquest will be held in Cairns, Thursday Island and Brisbane.

The inclusion of Thursday Island is a late change as initially it had been set down for Cairns and Brisbane. Senator Jan McLucas had urged the Coroner to move the inquest to Thursday Island to allow families of the victims from the NPA to attend.

The Torres News understands the two-week Coronial inquest on Thursday Island into the Malu Sara tragedy in which five people died convinced Coroner Michael Barnes that the inquest could be held, in part, on Thursday Island.

Despite the tragedy, flying is still one of the safest ways to travel.

An experienced pilot - who declined to be named - was asked at Injinoo Airport how he felt about the crash two years on.

“As a professional pilot,” he asserted, “You can’t think about it in the air, you just fly by the book. At the end of the day you want to go home to your family and you want all your passengers to land safely.”

People will continue to fly in and out of the NPA, and fresh flowers adorn the memorial that we all pass as we board our scheduled flights.

The schedule of grief though, has no clear transit times, and as Miss Nona rightly pointed out: `“Everyone moves on past tragedy at their own pace.”