Could Have Been High, Or Just Regular User
Aero-News SAFETY by Senior Correspondent Kevin R.C. "Hognose"
O'Brien
Exactly when Andrew Morris, 27, last used marijuana, medical
science can't tell. But toxicologist Olaf Drummer said that the
levels might indicate he had used the drug several hours before the
crash, or he might just have been a regular user with high (no pun
intended) quantities of THC, the drug's active ingredient, retained
in his tissues.
His tissues became a matter of interest to the Australian
authorities on September 26, 2002, when he tried to turn back to a
runway after the engine began running rough and skipping. Morris's
Piper Cherokee Six 300 stalled, and the four adults and two
children aboard -- including Morris -- perished.
The passengers were the Bowles family from New Zealand: Kevin,
47, Joanne, 46, Sophie, 9, and Michael, 6; and American Christopher
Le Gallo, 33. Le Gallo was on his honeymoon; newspapers at the time
reported that his wife was afraid to fly, and let him go on the
ten-minute interisland flight alone.
The ATSB, Australia's accident investigation authority, has
already attributed the probable cause of the crash to Morris's
error. Morris was an experienced pilot with 1300 hours total,
although only 19.2 on type, all obtained in the last week of his
life -- he had just started with that charter operator, Western Air
Services, eight days prior.
Then-Chief Pilot for Western, Alan Gray, said that Morris was
the best pilot with the service, despite being new to the Cherokee
Six. Gray chose Morris over other applicants because he was "well
above the average experience of other applicants," according to
Australian media reports. "He had a very good attitude towards
flying.... he was flying to a better standard than other staff
there," Gray told the inquest.
The picture below is the actual mishap aircraft, VH-MAR. The
flight was a charter from Hamilton Island to Lindeman Island. ATSB
took interest in the training that Morris had, which didn't include
emergency procedures after takeoff or stall recovery in the
Cherokee Six. The issue may have been somewhat moot, as the stalled
at too low an altitude to make a recovery (a laden Cherokee Six can
lose 300-400 feet in a normal stall).
It is also interesting to note that two pilots who flew as
passengers in VH-MAR the same day perceived the engine as running
rough. The engine had only 300 hours since overhaul, and Gray said
it had been running "so sweetly" in the days before the crash. The
ATSB theorized that Morris may have mismanaged the elderly Six's
complicated fuel selector, a part of the plane that Gray agreed was
not optimal; but the destruction of the plane and its systems was
so absolute that they couldn't find a definitive reason for the
loss of power.
Along with the cannabis, Morris's samples also contained a
variety of other substances, including codeine, morphine and
paracetamol, as well as an alcohol level of .08. But Professor
Drummer said there could be an innocent explanation for these
items. The alcohol was, in his opinion, produced postmortem; and
the other drugs were ingredients or metabolites of two common
Australian cold and headache -- or hangover? -- remedies that were
found in Morris's home, codral and panadol.
"There was insufficient evidence to definitively link the
pilot's prior intake of alcohol and/or cannabis with the
occurrence." the ATSB wrote in its final report, in March,
2004. "However, the adverse effects on pilot performance of
post-alcohol impairment, recent cannabis use and fatigue could not
be discounted as contributory factors to the occurrence. In
particular, the possibility that the pilot experienced some degree
of spatial disorientation during the turn as a combined result of
the manoeuvre, associated head movements and alcohol-induced
balance dysfunction could not be discounted."
At the inquest, Gray, the former chief pilot, told Coroner
Michael Barnes that he could not believe that Morris had had any
alcohol the morning of the flight. Morris had flown a leg with
Western Air Pilot Andrew Zantis, and Gray said that Zantis "doesn't
drink at all.... he would have easily smelt it on him."
Australia, like most nations, does not conduct random drug tests
of pilots and other transportation workers -- the USA is in the
minority, by requiring such tests.
The turn back to the runway on engine failure is a well-known,
and far too frequent, killer. Morris had attended a pilots' meeting
at which loss of power on takeoff from Hamilton Island was one
scenario discussed -- and a ditching offshore was the consensus
solution. But he had an ambiguous situation with partial power, and
although the decision turned out poorly, ATSB is reluctant to fault
him overly: "His decision to commence a turn was in response to an
ill-defined, unenviable, over water emergency situation to which it
was likely that varying responses could be expected from individual
pilots."
To complicate the matter, the Cherokee Six, a 1970 model, had
the early idiot-light stall warning indicator, and not the more
usual -- and, says ATSB, less easily overlooked -- aural
warning.
The aircraft crashed on a hillside near the departure end of
Runway 14 at Hamilton Island. The aircraft struck in an
approximately 70-degree nose down attitude. The impact forces were
not survivable, and fire destroyed most of the wreckage before the
island's volunteer firefighters could extinguish the blaze.
While the ATSB could not determine whether Morris's dope-smoking
and social drinking had any influence on the grim events of
September 26, 2002, the Board did commission two in-depth reports,
which take the form of a survey of the scientific literature on the
effects of cannabis and alcohol on human performance,
particularly with respect to aviation. (The reports, which were
filed with the ATSB's 2004 report, are .pdf files that you can
download at the linked pages).
The purpose of the
coroner's inquest now underway is to examine the death of the six
crash victims. An Australian Department of Justice website explains
that "[a]n inquest is a public court inquiry presided over by a
Coroner in which the circumstances surrounding a death are
examined. A Coroner is an independent judicial officer who must
inquire into every death from unknown or apparent non-natural
causes."
The Australian government stresses that this is a fact-finding
hearing, and will not answer directly any questions of civil
responsibility or criminal culpability: "An inquest does not decide
questions of civil liability and the Coroner is not allowed to
include in a comment or finding a statement that any person is or
may be guilty of an offense."
In the end, it's like so many other accidents: a human tragedy,
with no upside at all -- unless we can learn from it.