Advance Airlines Flight 4210

Investigation and aftermath

The accident had a profound impact upon the community in the small country town of Temora, as all 12 passengers killed were residents of the surrounding districts. The victims included a local police officer, his wife, and their one-week-old son, who had been airlifted to Sydney five days before the accident as he required urgent medical treatment for a respiratory condition. The family were returning home aboard flight 4210. It was revealed by the Sydney Morning Herald the day following the accident that the state MP for Temora, Jim Taylor, had regularly flown that service on that day of the week, but this particular week had instead flown to Parkes because his wife had been in the area.

The initial accident investigation was conducted by the Air Safety Investigation Branch of the Department of Transport, and its report was released in September 1981. While this investigation could not conclusively determine the cause of the accident, a number of conclusions were made about the events leading to the crash. These included the aircraft being heavier than the maximum allowable weight by some 128 kg at the time of departure due to a company procedure of using standard (estimated) passenger weights. An amendment had been made to the company's Operations Manual, advising pilots to use a reduced power setting for takeoff to reduce wear on the aircraft engines, but this amendment was not approved by the Department of Transport. When combined with the ambient temperature of 39 C and an overweight aircraft, these factors adversely affected the single pilot's workload and reduced the single-engine performance of the King Air to a critical extent. The investigation determined that the left engine had likely failed due to water contamination of the aircraft's fuel tanks, but the source of the contamination was not established.

A board of inquiry, headed by Sir Sydney Frost, was convened on 1 December 1981, sitting over 90 days. On 27 January 1982, the board heard evidence from a former chief pilot of Advance Airlines who told the inquiry that on days when the temperature exceeded 28 C (such as the day of the accident), it would be necessary to use a higher power setting than that advised in the company Operations Manual, and that in his interpretation of the manual this was quite clear. He also told the inquiry that Advance Airlines checked for water in the fuel system each time the aircraft was refuelled. When he operated the aircraft on scheduled flights the day prior to the accident, the aircraft performed "quite well." In 1983, the board of inquiry published its findings, attributing the accident to pilot error and the presence of water in the fuel tank, leading to the engine failure. The board of inquiry recommended that commercial aircraft operating in Australia with more than nine passengers should be operated by two pilots. This recommendation was implemented by the Australian aviation regulator.