Accident to Auster J5/F aircraft VH-AFK near Jenolan Caves NSW on 16 October 1954

This accident was investigated by the late R. W. Adsett, then Senior Examiner of Airmen, New South Wales Region, and his report appears at Enclosure 6B. The following is a summary of the evidence.

Auster J5/F VH-AFK , owned and operated by C. M. Hazelton, trading as Hazel ton Air Taxi and Charter Service, Toogong, New South Wales, departed Bankstown Aerodrome, New South Wales, at 1517 hours on the 16th October, 1954, for Toogong, 124 miles on a bearing of 287°T from Bankstown and directly across the Great Dividing Range. The aircraft was being flown solo by the owner on a private flight and, as the pilot did not hold an instrument rating and the aircraft was not equipped for instrument flight, it was to be conducted under the visual flight rules. The forecast weather throughout the route was "8/8th cloud, base 300-400 feet above terrain about highlands and base at times 100 feet or less in rain on western part of the route.