CIVIL Aviation Minister Benjamin Poponawa has promised a full and thorough investigation into the air crash in Misima, Milne Bay, that killed four people, The Nationalreports.
He said the Accident Investigation Commission (AIC), under its chief executive officer David Inau, would conduct a thorough and independent investigation in accordance with international civil aviation rules with the help of Australian experts.
“The AIC has invited the technical assistance of CASA PNG, the operator, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and other independent agencies.
“Onsite component of the investigation will continue for several days and an airspace restriction remains over the crash site.
“It is expected that an interim factual report will be released within 28 days,” Poponawa said in a statement.
He confirmed that Darren Moore, a flying operations inspector with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, was killed in the crash.
He expressed condolences to the family and friends of those killed.
Poponawa said Trans Air (PNG) had no connection to Transair (Australia).
“The links to the Transair (Australia) Lockhart river accident in 2005 and this accident cannot be ignored.
“The investigation and inquiries into the Lockhart river accident, including the Queensland coronial inquiry, did not hold Transair accountable.”
He said Trans Air (PNG) had an existing air operator certificate (AOC) since 1998, prior to the Lockhart river accident.
Darren Moore and Munchkin, his pet cuscus who lived with him in Port Moresby
By MALUM NALU
On Monday this week, a day before he died in the plane crash
on Misima, Darren Moore posted a message on my Facebook page regarding the
summary execution of a teacher in Enga province in cold blood last Friday.
“It makes you want to carry a firearm to ensure your own
safety,” he told me.
“Animals like this are really making a bad name for PNG in
the world’s eyes.”
These were the last words Moore would ever share with me and words that
I’ll always remember when I think about him.
The first time Moore came to PNG was to deliver an old C-172 for a bloke who gave him some bad information about weather and radio communications. Everyone saw the funny side of that - ultimately.
He then posted a message on his own page on Tuesday, saying:
“Woohoo.
“Back driving the jet for a few hours today.
“Audit reports can get stuffed, I'm off flying.”
I read that message and presumed that Moore, a qualified
pilot and flight operations inspector with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority,
was flying some jet.
I heard about the plane crash in Misima on Tuesday, however,
had no idea that this good mate of mine was among those killed.
Villagers and curious onlookers, Australian air safety officials and CASA and
Accident Investigation Commission investigators at the scene of the crash on
MisimaIsland, MilneBay, inspecting the remains of the Cessna
Citation on Wednesday. – Picture by SINEWATA ISHMAEL
In fact, the first thing that came to mind was that Moore
would be among those investigating the crash, and that he would be giving me
some exclusive information about what really happened.
Just two weeks ago, I met Moore at the Holiday Inn, in which
he told me about last month’s air crash in Kabwum, Morobe province, which he
had just investigated and was now in the process of putting together his
accident report.
Darren Moore in the cockpit of a plane
A couple of times, he had asked me, through my Facebook
page, to go and have a “brew” with him at either the Aero Club or Airways Motel
at which he would tell me some flying yarns.
I got the shock of my life when I read on the front page of
yesterday’s The National that Moore, 44, from Leonora in Western Australia, was among those killed.
I kept on asking myself “why, why, why” when Moore was someone who could offer Papua New Guinea civil aviation so
much.
And the saddest irony is that all of those air crashes Moore has been
investigating will now not be completed, as he himself became a victim of an
air crash.
Just two weeks ago, when we met at the Holiday Inn, Moore
was telling me about the August 2008 Kokoda Trail Cessna 2006 crash that killed pilot Christopher Kaines, the August 2009
Kokoda plane crash, last month’s Kabwum plane crash in which the young Australian
pilot miraculously survived, and many others.
He was particularly concerned about the circumstances
surrounding Kaines’ crash and wanted to see justice done for the dead pilot’s
wives and children.
He was deeply concerned about the level of air safety
investigations in the country, and freely admitted that the government must
allocate more funding for this.
Moore
also raised concerns about the level of air safety in the country, saying that
we must never compromise our air safety by lowering standards, or allowing
shady operators into the business.
He has been constantly calling me since by telephone and
through Facebook about developments within PNG civil aviation.
Fellow aviation mates of Moore, known as Wiz, posted tributes on a
popular pilot website to the "rough nut" who was working with PNG's
CASA.
Moore
has been described by a grieving mate as “a truly great bloke - consummate
pilot, with lots of street smarts and common sense - also an extraordinary
party animal”.
Moore’s
Facebook page has been full of emotional comments since Wednesday when
friend Ryan Hooper confirmed: “Well I am sorry to say yes
Darren was killed in the accident.
“He was a true mate and my heart is with you Sue.”
Dave Healey: “Fly high old mate, you've touched the lives of
a great many people and will be sorely missed.
“Spread your wings wide and fly into the sun.”
Min Stokes: “This is so sad, condolences to Sue and the
family.
“Daz you were one of a kind, true blue.
“Aviation won't be the same without you and your humour,
we'll miss ya.”
Leon Garlett: “Thanks for the laughs in Leonora mate.
“You went where angels feared to go
“Condolences to Sue and family.”
Charl Du Plessis: “Hard to accept it.
“He was working on a great future for him and the family and
I find it very sad that it had to end this way.”
Eric Galliers: “Darren, your last status says it all about
your true passion mate.
“You will be missed by many and I still can’t get it into my
mind that aviation took you.
“Very sad old buddy.”
Roz Roulston: “I was just thinking about you yesterday
Darren.
“Was hoping you were safe in PNG and how many accidents
happen over there.
“I had no idea it was you.
“All my love sympathy to your family.
“I can't believe it's you. R.I.P.”
Michael Anthony: “Darren, from one sky god to another... rest
in peace mate.
“Watch over us and know we won't forget ya.”
Killed together with Moore were were passenger Chris Hart, 61, from Sydney,
and Trans Air charter co-owner and pilot Les Wright, 59, from Queensland.
The fourth victim, an employee of medivac company
International SOS, was a New Zealander.
The survivor, another New Zealander who is a permanent
resident of Australia,
arrived in Port Moresby on Wednesday afternoon
on a charter flight from MisimaIsland in PNG's MilneBay
province.
The unnamed 25-year-old co-pilot of the doomed Cessna
Citation was immediately whisked on to another plane and flown out of PNG to an
Australian hospital for medical treatment for "heavy bruising".
His amazing escape happened on Tuesday afternoon when the
Trans Air plane overshot the Misima runway while landing in heavy rain and
crashed into trees, bursting into flames.
Australian and New Zealand diplomatic staff flew
to the island on Wednesday to supervise the retrieval of the bodies and to
inspect the crash site.
They were joined by PNG air accident investigator Sid
O'Toole and other officials
Civil aviation authorities in PNG said it was still too
early to say what went wrong but guaranteed a full and complete investigation.
Trans Air, which runs a charter and medivac service in PNG,
is linked to the now defunct Australian airline Transair, which went into
liquidation after a 2005 crash at LockhartRiver in north Queensland in which 15 people died.
As apart from the traditional pension or superannuation funds in Papua New Guinea, , the government needs to make it a big part of its financial market reforms to also establish other diversified types of ‘managed funds’ with specific benefits products to cater for the overall needs of the majority of income-earners in the country.
The public needs other alternative investment choices other than just putting their hard-earned savings in the banks and only getting a pittance for it.
While most super funds have grown over the years due to membership increases, fundamentally they have not changed much since being established.
New managed funds are needed for future investments by the public and should be creatively designed so that the fund benefits also extend not only to members, but also to their spouses, children and immediate families.
The super funds in PNG so far are set up fundamentally for single purposes to generally provide for future needs.
They are a single old savings scheme to give workers some security at retirement and in their old-age.
Simply, they are life-long financial plans – an investment vehicle of member’s personal financial planning.
All in all, they provide a great advantage to the average worker who might otherwise not have the means available for a planned retirement.
The government when designing future managed funds must be careful to ensure inbuilt hedging mechanisms are in place to safeguard against two factors: inflation and increasing life-expectancy.
For the benefit of citizens, the government will need to introduce other suitable managed funds for all categories of workers and their families to enjoy new fund benefits as:
· Home savings to buy a home;
· Medical bills;
· Children’s tertiary education;
· Invest in shares; and
· Premium for personal and home insurance.
The country’s new fund’s products must also cover a wide range of financial instruments from property, insurance to stocks (shares) and unit trusts.
So upon retirement, workers have a sizeable ‘nest-egg’ to see them through in retirement years.
What’s more, it must also be made a future government policy to encourage all citizens the importance of long-term financial planning.
Hence, the future challenge now is for both the government and managed funds trustees to continue introducing innovative, yet conservative savings and investment strategies of allowing its national workforce in all categories to intelligently use their managed funds in meeting their future expectations.
Moasing Nalu with a baby whilst a nurse at Buangi hospital, Finschhafen
In loving memory of Mrs Moasing Nalu August 18, 1938 – September
2, 2009
In loving memory of Mrs Moasing Nalu, who passed away at Angau Memorial
Hospital in Lae on Wednesday, September 2, 2009, at 10.15am.
Aged 72, she is survived by her children Alison, David, Malum, Lepung and Anna
Nalu as well as 14 grand children.
My mum was a committed Christian until the day she died, and worked with my
father, the late Mathias Nalu, all over the country in the colonial
pre-independence days.
THE Tourism Promotion Authority says Papua
New Guinea is currently losing millions in tourism dollars from the Japanese
market and all relevant government agencies must quickly work together to
address the problem.
PNG TPA chief executive officer Peter
Vincent said major tour operators across the country were experiencing large
booking cancellations by Japanese tourists following a Level 2 Travel Alert
issued by the Japanese government for the interest and safety of its
citizens.
The Level 2 Travel Alert prevents group
travels by Japanese tourists to PNG however individuals can travel here but “at
their own risk”.
Vincent said the Level 2 Travel Alert was
issued in August following major security breaches at the JacksonsAirport including the killing of a local
businessman and the exchange of gunfire between a disgruntled resource landowner
and police.
He said while these incidents may be
localised in nature, however, given the existing negative image perception of
PNG abroad, that in the overall scheme of things, they caused more damage than
good for PNG’s standing overseas.
He said many PNG tourism operators have
expressed their concern to the TPA that they were losing business in the
millions because of booking cancellations by Japanese agents and
tourists.
“This has now become a
government-to-government matter which needs to be addressed immediately to
safeguard our growing tourism industry and particularly our local tourism
operators,” he added.
Vincent said the Japanese Government was
adamant that it would not relax the travel alerts unless it was convinced that
the safety of its citizens was guaranteed particularly at JacksonsAirport which is the gateway to
PNG.
Vincent said while TPA was already working
with police and other relevant government agencies including Civil Aviation and
Air Niugini to address the issue, the national government needed to be more
proactive in its approach as such incidents can also impact on Air Niugini’s
second weekly flight to Tokyo and the billion kina LNG
project.
He said as a nation, our people also
seriously needed to do away with their attitude problems which gave rise to such
issues and they must take responsibility and ownership in the progress and
development of this country.
THE Tourism Promotion Authority says Papua New Guinea is currently losing millions in tourism dollars from the Japanese market and all relevant government agencies must quickly work together to address the problem.
PNG TPA chief executive officer Peter Vincent said major tour operators across the country were experiencing large booking cancellations by Japanese tourists following a Level 2 Travel Alert issued by the Japanese government for the interest and safety of its citizens.
The Level 2 Travel Alert prevents group travels by Japanese tourists to PNG however individuals can travel here but “at their own risk”.
Vincent said the Level 2 Travel Alert was issued in August following major security breaches at the JacksonsAirport including the killing of a local businessman and the exchange of gunfire between a disgruntled resource landowner and police.
He said while these incidents may be localised in nature, however, given the existing negative image perception of PNG abroad, that in the overall scheme of things, they caused more damage than good for PNG’s standing overseas.
He said many PNG tourism operators have expressed their concern to the TPA that they were losing business in the millions because of booking cancellations by Japanese agents and tourists.
“This has now become a government-to-government matter which needs to be addressed immediately to safeguard our growing tourism industry and particularly our local tourism operators,” he added.
Vincent said the Japanese Government was adamant that it would not relax the travel alerts unless it was convinced that the safety of its citizens was guaranteed particularly at JacksonsAirport which is the gateway to PNG.
Vincent said while TPA was already working with police and other relevant government agencies including Civil Aviation and Air Niugini to address the issue, the national government needed to be more proactive in its approach as such incidents can also impact on Air Niugini’s second weekly flight to Tokyo and the billion kina LNG project.
He said as a nation, our people also seriously needed to do away with their attitude problems which gave rise to such issues and they must take responsibility and ownership in the progress and development of this country.
Among 3 Aussies and Kiwi killed was
Trans Air co-owner
By STEPHANIE
ELIZAH
Villagers and curious onlookers, Australian air safety officials and CASA and
Accident Investigation Commission investigators at the scene of the crash on
MisimaIsland, MilneBay, inspecting the remains of the Cessna
Citation yesterday. – Picture by SINEWATA ISHMAEL
AMONG those killed in the plane
crash on Misima in MilneBay was Les Wright, the co-owner of Trans
Air, which ran the charter, The National reports.
Wright, 59, was from Queensland, Australia.
The others were identified as Chris
Hart, 61, from Sydney, and Darren Moore, 44, from Leonora in Western Australia, who
was a civil aviation flight operations inspector.
The name of the fourth victim, an
employee of medivac company International SOS, a New Zealander, was not
released.
The survivor, another New Zealander
who is a permanent resident of Australia, arrived in Port
Moresby yesterday afternoon on a chartered flight from MisimaIsland.
The unnamed 25-year-old co-pilot of
the doomed Cessna Citation was immediately whisked onto another plane and flown
to Australia for medical treatment for
“heavy bruising”.
Trans Air (PNG), a charter and
medivac operator, is linked to the now-defunct Australian airline Transair,
which went into liquidation after a 2005 crash at LockhartRiver in north Queensland, killing 15
people.
Investigations have begun into the
crash, which occurred on Tuesday afternoon.
The bodies of the four are at the
morgue at MisimaHospital and would be flown to Port Moresby
today.
Around 4pm yesterday, a chartered
Airlines PNG Twin Otter arrived in Port
Moresby with the injured co-pilot, heavily
sedated.
Local and international media were
locked out of the Trans Air hangar at the airport by security
guards.
Accident Investigation Commission
(AIC) chief executive officer David Inau confirmed “that a Cessna Citation jet
ran off the end of the runway on landing”.
Inau gave no further details, only
stating that “until all findings have been gathered and finalised, then a
formal statement will be made”.
Civil Aviation Safety Authority and
AIC investigators were accompanied by Australian officials to the crash site
yesterday.
They would try and establish the
cause
of the
accident.
Australian leaders, including prime
minister Julia Gillard and foreign affairs and trade minister Stephen Smith,
yesterday expressed sorrow at the loss of their citizens’
lives.
“On behalf of the government, I
offer my condolences to the families of the three Australians that will be
grieving the loss of a loved one today,” Gillard told reporters in
Australia
yesterday.
“I also offer our condolences to the
New
Zealand family that has lost a loved one.
“And, I wish a speedy recovery and a
return to good health to the New Zealand citizen, Australian
resident who has been injured.”
Smith said the tragedy came just
weeks after the first anniversary of the Kokoda plane crash in which nine
Australians died.
“This will be a very sad reminder to
nine Australian families,” Smith said.
“It follows on very closely from the
first anniversary of the Kokoda air crash, so this will be painful not just for
the families of the five involved but a painful reminder of the Kokoda air
crash.”
Smith confirmed that the plane was
chartered by Trans Air and one of those killed was employed by the company but
he would not say whether it was its owner Wright.
However, an industry source told
AAP: “Les Wright from Trans Air was on board and
died.”
The foreign minister said he had
spoken to the Australian acting high commissioner in PNG and was told
“everything that Australian officials can do is being done both on the ground in
Misima and Port
Moresby”.
Smith said the Australian Transport
Safety Bureau had offered assistance in any formal investigation into the cause
of the crash.
“We regrettably have a lot of
experience with plane crashes in PNG and we have in the past, and I expect on
this occasion, will work closely and successfully with PNG officials,” he
said.
