List of Qantas fatal accidents
While Qantas has never had a fatal jet airliner accident, the Australian national airline suffered losses in its early days before the widespread adoption of jets in civilian aviation.[1] These were mainly biplanes or flying boats servicing routes in Queensland and New Guinea.[2] The incidents between 1942 and 1944 were during World War II, when Qantas Empire Airways operated on behalf of the military.[3] While strictly speaking not accidents, the shootdowns of G-AETZ and G-AEUH are included for completeness. In 2014 and 2023, Qantas was rated the world's safest airline by Airline Ratings.[4]
| Date | Location | Aircraft type | Registration | Description | Total occupants | Fatalities | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 March 1927 | Tambo, Australia | Airco (later de Havilland) DH.9C | G-AUED | Stalled at low altitude on approach to land. Pilot Alan Douglas Davidson | 3 | 3 | [5][6] |
| 4 September 1928 | Adelaide Hills, Australia | de Havilland DH.50J | G-AUHI | Following a tour carrying Sir John Salmond, aircraft departed Adelaide piloted by C. W. A. Scott with engineer as passenger; lost control in cloud during attempt to cross the Adelaide Hills and aircraft crashed and caught fire killing the engineer. See C. W. A. Scott's DH.50J Hermes, fatal crash. | 2 | 1 | [7] |
| 3 October 1934 | Near Winton, Australia | de Havilland DH.50A | VH-UHE | Crashed after in-flight loss of control, possibly stalled at low altitude in dusty low-visibility conditions. | 3 | 3 | [8] |
| 15 November 1934 | Near Longreach, Australia | de Havilland DH.86 | VH-USG | Crashed on its delivery flight from England to Brisbane after in-flight loss of control, probably due to the type's design deficiencies. | 4 | 4 | [9][10][11][12][13] |
| 30 January 1942 | Timor Sea off Koepang | Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat | G-AEUH | Shot down by Japanese aircraft; ex-Qantas VH-ABD, owned by Imperial Airways and operated by Qantas. | 18 | 13 | [3][14][15] |
| 20 February 1942 | Brisbane, Australia | de Havilland DH.86 | VH-USE | Lost control after take-off in stormy weather, possibly broke up in flight (tail fin found a mile from the crash site). | 9 | 9 | [16][17][18][19] |
| 28 February 1942 | Between Tjilatjap, Netherlands East Indies and Broome, Australia | Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat | G-AETZ | Nicknamed "Circe" Shot down by Japanese aircraft; owned by Imperial Airways and operated by Qantas. |
20 | 20 | [20] |
| 22 April 1943 | Gulf of Papua off Port Moresby, Papua | Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat | VH-ADU | Stalled in flare and broke up during emergency landing in open water in poor weather. | 31 | 13 | [15][21] |
| 26 November 1943 | Port Moresby, Papua | Lockheed C-56B Lodestar | 42-68348 | Struck hill after take-off; USAAF aircraft operated by Qantas for Allied Directorate of Air Transport. | 15 | 15 | [22][23] |
| 11 October 1944 | Rose Bay, Sydney, Australia | Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat | VH-ABB | On final approach with one engine shut-down, stalled 3 metres (10 ft) above the water and hull ruptured on impact. | 30 | 2 | [15][24][25] |
| 23 March 1946 | Indian Ocean | Avro Lancastrian | G-AGLX | Aircraft disappeared between Colombo and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, cause unknown; aircraft owned by BOAC and operated by both airlines on Sydney-London services (BOAC crews operated London-Karachi and Qantas crews Karachi-Sydney). | 10 | 10 | [26][27] |
| 16 July 1951 | Huon Gulf near Lae, Papua New Guinea | de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover | VH-EBQ | Crashed in sea after centre propeller failure, in heavy rain half a mile from the coast. Cargo of gold doré bars worth £36,000 (A$1.7 million 2022) was never found. | 7 | 7 | [28][29] |
| 21 September 1951 | 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) southeast of Arona in the central highlands of New Guinea | de Havilland DH.84 Dragon | VH-AXL | Crashed in mountainous country, no passengers aboard | 1 | 1 | [30] |
| 13 December 1951 | Near Mount Hagen, central highlands of New Guinea | de Havilland DH.84 Dragon | VH-URV | Crashed in mountainous country | 3 | 3 | [31] |
See also
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Qantas fatal accidents.
References
[edit]- ^ Creedy, Steve (12 February 2008). "Qantas safety record under threat". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 February 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
- ^ "History: Venturing Overseas". Qantas Airways Limited. Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
- ^ a b "History: The World at War". Qantas Airways Limited. Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
- ^ Geoffrey, Thomas (8 January 2014). "AirlineRatings.com names the top ten safest airlines". airlineratings.com. Airline Ratings.
- ^ G-AUED Airco aeroplane. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. hdl:10462/deriv/114375.
- ^ Kebabjian, Richard. "24 Mar 1927". Planecrashinfo. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
- ^ Fysh, Sir Wilmot Hudson (1965). pp. 196--197, p. 285.
- ^ Atalanta, a De Havilland DH50 biplane VH-UHE, ca. 1930. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. hdl:10462/deriv/134578.
- ^ "QANTAS DH 86 VH - USG at Darwin airport with crew". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 13 May 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "Aeroplane". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 13 May 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "Airmen". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 13 May 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "Aeroplane". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 13 May 2008. [dead link]
- ^ Kebabjian, Richard. "15 Nov 1934". Planecrashinfo. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
- ^ "Papers of Ray Shepherd, File A20, ACC G-AEUH". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
- ^ a b c Graham, Wynnum B. (2001). Retrieved on 13 May 2008.
- ^ De Havilland 86A owned by Qantas Empire Airways, ca. 1940. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. hdl:10462/deriv/136510.
- ^ "Qantas DH86". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 13 May 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "Qantas DH86". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 13 May 2008. [dead link]
- ^ Kebabjian, Richard. "20 Feb 1942". Planecrashinfo. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
- ^ "QANTAS Empire Airways Chronological History". Cloncurry Advocate. 30 May 1947. p. 4. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ "AWM Collection Record: P02557.009". Australian War Memorial Collection. Archived from the original on 19 July 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
- ^ Cuskelly, Ron (1997–2000). "Lodestar". Retrieved 13 May 2008.
- ^ Francillon, Rene J. (1987).
- ^ "Aeroplane". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 13 May 2008. [dead link]
- ^ Qantas Short C Class Empire flying boat VH-ABB 'Coolangatta', ca. 1940. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. hdl:10462/deriv/119769.
- ^ Livingstone, Bob (1998). p. 122.
- ^ "Avro 691 Lancastrian 1 G-AGLX Indian Ocean". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
- ^ Kebabjian, Richard. "16 Jul 1951". Planecrashinfo. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
- ^ Goodall, Geoff. "DE HAVILLAND DHA-3 DROVER". Geoff Goodall's Aviation History Site. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
- ^ "Pilot killed in Qantas crash". Canberra Times. p. 4. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
- ^ "Air crash in New Guinea". Cairns Post. 15 December 1951. p. 5. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
Further reading
[edit]- Allen, Eric (1995). Airliners in Australian Service. Vol. 1. Weston Creek, ACT: Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd. ISBN 1-875671-14-5. OCLC 38384708.
- Cuskelly, Ron (1997–2000). "The Lockheed File: Lockheed Aircraft in Australia".
- Francillon, Rene J. (1987). Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-897-2. OCLC 17156375.
- Fysh, Sir Wilmot Hudson (1965). Qantas Rising: The Autobiography of the Flying Fysh. Sydney, NSW: Angus and Robertson. OCLC 2223794. LoC Cat. No. 65-25523.
- Graham, Wynnum B. (2001). "Empire C Class Flying Boats" (PDF). Australian Military Aircraft Serials and Aircraft History.
- Job, Macarthur (1991). Air Crash. Vol. 1. Weston Creek, ACT: Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd. ISBN 0-9587978-9-7. OCLC 28964777.
- Job, Macarthur (1992). Air Crash. Vol. 2. Weston Creek, ACT: Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd. ISBN 1-875671-01-3. OCLC 221135405.
- Livingstone, Bob (1998). Under the Southern Cross: The B-24 Liberator in the South Pacific. Nashville, TN: Turner Publishing Company. ISBN 1-56311-432-1. OCLC 44838653.