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On 10 March 1949 a Lockheed Lodestar aircraft became airborne at Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia for a flight to Brisbane. Before reaching a height of it suddenly pitched nose-up, stalled and crashed onto its belly beyond the end of the airstrip. Fuel from the aircraft's tanks caught fire and the aircraft burned fiercely. All 21 people on board died, either of injuries during the crash or in the ensuing conflagration. It was the worst civil aviation accident in Queensland at the time,〔("State's Worst Air Crash" ) ''The Courier-Mail'' – 11 March 1949, p.1 (National Library of Australia) Retrieved 30 November 2011〕 and the second-worst accident in Australia. It occurred exactly three years after the worst, the ANA DC-3 crash near Hobart on 10 March 1946.〔("Toll Of 21 Lives In Air Disaster" ) ''The West Australian'' – 11 March 1949, p.3 (National Library of Australia) Retrieved 30 November 2011〕 Investigation of the crash uncovered some errors in the information used to determine the position of the aircraft's centre of gravity. It became clear that the aircraft had taken off with its centre of gravity slightly outside the approved limits. Investigators also found evidence that the takeoff may have been performed with the elevator trim tab still set for landing. If the elevator trim tab had not been set for takeoff this would have been exacerbated by the incorrect position of the centre of gravity and the aircraft would have been uncontrollable. == The flight == ''Queensland Airlines'' used Lockheed Lodestar VH-BAG to conduct a regular passenger service between Brisbane, Casino, Coffs Harbour, Coolangatta and Brisbane.〔("21 Killed When Plane Burst Into Fire" ) ''The Canberra Times'' – 11 March 1949, p.1 (National Library of Australia) Retrieved 30 November 2011〕 VH-BAG arrived at Bilinga airstrip, on the outskirts of Coolangatta, from Coffs Harbour with 11 of its 16 passenger seats occupied. Some passengers left the aircraft at Bilinga and others boarded for the flight of to Archerfield Airport in Brisbane.〔 The aircraft was parked at the ''Queensland Airlines'' terminal for about a quarter of an hour before departing at 11:15 am local time. On board were 16 adult passengers and 2 infants, 2 pilots and an air hostess. All passenger seats were occupied.〔〔〔 Observers saw the aircraft taxi to the end of the strip, turn around and promptly commence its take-off run.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1949 Queensland Airlines Lockheed Lodestar crash」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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