Investigation finds Angel Flight a significant risk for passengers

Angel Flight has an accident rate 7 times that of other private flight operators, says ATSB.

Investigators at the site of the 2017 crash that killed 3 people near Mount Gambier. Picture: Tom Huntley

Community service provider Angel Flight should pay for commercial flights for its passengers rather than use private pilots, based on an investigation showing the organisation has an accident rate seven times higher than other private flight operators.

The formal safety recommendation was included in the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s final report on the second fatal crash of an Angel Flight service on June 28, 2017.

Angel Flight links private pilots with people in remote and regional areas in need of air transport to get to cities for medical appointments and treatments.

Pilot Grant Gilbert, 78, and two passengers were killed in the crash in low-lying fog at Mt Gambier, South Australia, just 70-seconds after takeoff.

Mr Gilbert was taking Tracy Redding and her teenage daughter Emily to Adelaide for an appointment and had flown from Adelaide the same day to collect them.

The ATSB has released its report into the collision with terrain of Tobago VH-YTM, which occurred near Mount Gambier, on 28 June 2017. The flight was organised by Angel Flight to transport a passenger and a family member for medical treatment. Read more: https://t.co/koi3OpyiwQ pic.twitter.com/2Zl7FMLIez

— ATSB (@atsbinfo) August 13, 2019

The two-year investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the pilot operating under visual flight rules, did not have the experience and qualifications to takeoff in low level cloud but did so anyway.

According to the report, the pilot’s TB-10 Tobago would have entered cloud ten seconds after becoming airborne, and Mr Gilbert most probably became spatially disorientated, resulting in a loss of control of the aircraft.

An image from the interim ATSB report into the crash. Picture: ATSB

The light plane crashed just two kilometres from the airstrip, killing all on board.

On the same morning, two Regional Express (Rex) flights scheduled to go to Mt Gambier either delayed their journey or entered a holding pattern for an hour because of the foggy conditions.

Releasing the report today, ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood said the intent of Angel Flight services “demonstrated a laudable concern for others”.

But he said their analysis of fatal crashes in 2011 and 2017, showed passengers were being exposed to much higher levels of risk compared to other types of aviation operations.

As a result, the ATSB had issued a formal safety advisory to Angel Flight Australia recommending it consider paying for commercial flights, where available, to transport its passengers.

An image from the interim ATSB report into the crash. Picture: ATSB

“This ATSB investigation showed that commercial passenger flight options are available for nearly two-thirds of the private flights organised by Angel Flight,” Commissioner Hood said.

He said Angel Flight could purchase tickets on commercial flights for two passengers for a comparable cost to what they normally paid for the fuel costs of privately-operated flights.

“As a charity established to transport rural and regional people with limited financial means to medical appointments, the ATSB considers that Angel Flight could and should include the fact that commercial passenger flights have a lower safety risk to passengers than private operations as a factor when they are organising flights,” he said.

Commissioner Hood noted that on the day of the Mount Gambier accident, suitable and cost-comparative airline flights were available.

It would be up to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to enforce the recommendations made by the ATSB in relation to Angel Flight.

Already CASA has taken steps to upgrade the safety of Angel Flight operations in a move the organisation feared would adversely impact many of those who relied on its services.