Flight training under the microscope after fatal Gippsland crash

All three occupants of the experimental Morgan Cougar Mk 1, VH-LDV – pilot Smith; his younger brother Ben, 16; and cousin Dusty Daly, 15 – were killed when it crashed into a paddock near West Sale Airport on 16 November 2024.

“Drawing such a broad conclusion from a single accident, I would argue, is not good practice,” Monck said.

“We need to understand what these issues are rather than making broad sweeping statements that just create headlines.”

According to the ABC’s reporting, the school that trained Smith, Adventure Flight Training (AFT), had in January 2024 administered an online multiple-choice flight instructor exam for RAAus that defaulted all correct answers to “A”, with Smith answering “A” 47 out of 50 times.

In a subsequent exam with the same questions and answers, Smith scored 76 per cent, which was still below the passing grade of 80 per cent, with “no records” showing he attempted a third.

Monck acknowledged to the ABC that RAAus had known of ongoing problems at AFT some three months before Smith’s death.

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“We were aware of some issues that became evident with that school prior to the accident,” he said.

“We took actions to address those actions or the lack of training or the potential deficiencies in his training that he received. The instructor involved is no longer operational with RAAus.”

ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell told 7:30 that the crash “should never have happened” and said RAAus needs to better supervise pilot training.

“They do need some really positive oversight to all of the flight training schools to make sure what is being instructed is correct, [and] it is being understood by students,” he said.

“It’s not a tick-the-box exercise. It is there to keep people and to keep pilots and their passengers safe.”

As part of its investigation, the ATSB noted in its report that it had interviewed “several parties” involved with AFT, which had closed in August 2024, three months before the accident, following a safety-related suspension notice against its chief flying instructor.

In particular, a look at Smith’s exam history revealed “several errors about aerodynamic stalling in exams conducted during 2024, and it was concluded the pilot likely had inadequate knowledge of the relationship between angle of bank, load factor and stall speed,” the ATSB said.

“These accounts, as well as an examination of available records, identified a series of irregularities with the way the school trained and examined its pilots for certification,” said Mitchell in a press release accompanying the report.

“The ATSB found RAAus had inadequate controls to mitigate the irregular examination practices identified at the flying training school.”

While RAAus had also issued safety-related suspensions against all Adventure Flight Training graduates for “potential knowledge deficiencies”, CASA failed to check if any of those graduates had used their RAAus certificates to gain CASA licences.

Both CASA and RAAus have since updated, or are in the process of updating, their systems and procedures, including an online exam system at RAAus, and more robust processes around reports of suspensions, variations or cancellations of authorisations at CASA.