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VH-UKK, one of the Stinson A2Ws that are the subject of this month's Air Safety feature. The photograph was taken at Essendon Airport after the aircraft had been modified from its original trimotor configuration in 1943. The manually operated DF loop on top of the fuselage is for the radio compass. The hangar behind the Stinson is that of Ansett Airways Ltd - today the CM's Flying Unit. Note the lack of any concrete apron.
Air Safety – Unscheduled Landing
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Unscheduled Landing
Airline flying was not always the precise procedure it is these days.
In earlier years, scheduled RPT operations were carried out without the benefit of today’s sophisticated navigation equipment and the degree of support now available from the air traffic services system. Moreover, operational requirements such as flight time limitations and stipulated procedures for IFR flight simply did not exist. An incident illustrating the practical effect of these shortcomings, when everything did not go “according to Hoyle” took place during a Bass Strait flight during the winter months of 1944, which I suppose could be described as somewhat “late in the early years”.
The RPT flight by Australian National Airways was scheduled from Melbourne Airport (then Essendon of course), with landings at King Island, Smithton, Wynyard, Launceston and Flinders Island. The return trip to Essendon was via the same ports, flying the reciprocal of the route. About seven and a half hours flying was involved in the whole operation, which was regularly flown by one of ANA’s two twin-engined Stinson A2Ws, VH-UKK and VH-UYY.
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