List of Qantas fatal accidents

Short S.23 Empire flying boat VH-ABB, which crashed in 1944.

While Qantas has never had a fatal jet airliner accident, the Australian national airline suffered several losses in its early days before the widespread adoption of the jet engine 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 shooting down of G-AETZ and G-AEUH is included for completeness. In 2014, Qantas was rated the world's safest airline by Airline Ratings.^[4]

Date	Location	Aircraft type	Registration	Description	Aboard	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.	7	7	[28]

Notes

1. Creedy, Steve (2008-02-12). "Qantas safety record under threat". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
2. "History: Venturing Overseas". Qantas Airways Limited. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
3. "History: The World at War". Qantas Airways Limited. Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
4. Geoffrey, Thomas. "AirlineRatings.com names the top ten safest airlines". http://www.airlineratings.com/news/201/qantas-the-safest-airline. Airline Ratings. Retrieved 6 August 2014. External link in |website= (help)
5. "G-AUED Airco aeroplane". John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
6. Kebabjian, Richard (1997–2008). "24 Mar 1927". Retrieved 2008-05-13.
7. Fysh, Sir Wilmot Hudson (1965). pp. 196--197, p. 285.
8. "Atalanta, a De Havilland DH50 biplane VH-UHE, ca. 1930". John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
9. "QANTAS DH 86 VH - USG at Darwin airport with crew". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
10. "Aeroplane". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
11. "Airmen". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
12. "Aeroplane". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
13. Kebabjian, Richard (1997–2008). "15 Nov 1934". Retrieved 2008-05-13.
14. "Papers of Ray Shepherd, File A20, ACC G-AEUH". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
15. Graham, Wynnum B. (2001). Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
16. "De Havilland 86A owned by Qantas Empire Airways, ca. 1940". John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
17. "Qantas DH86". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
18. "Qantas DH86". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
19. Kebabjian, Richard (1997–2008). "20 Feb 1942". Retrieved 2008-05-13.
20. Pacific Wreck website
21. "AWM Collection Record: P02557.009". Australian War Memorial Collection. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
22. Cuskelly, Ron (1997–2000). "Lodestar". Retrieved 2008-05-13.
23. Francillon, Rene J. (1987).
24. "Aeroplane". Northern Territory Library and Information Service. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
25. "Qantas Short C Class Empire flying boat VH-ABB 'Coolangatta', ca. 1940". John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
26. Livingstone, Bob (1998). p. 122.
27. Ranter, Harro; Lujan, Fabian I. (2003). "Avro 691 Lancastrian 1 G-AGLX Indian Ocean". Retrieved 2008-05-14.
28. Kebabjian, Richard (1997–2008). "16 Jul 1951". Retrieved 2010-06-30.

References

• Allen, Eric (1995). Airliners in Australian Service. 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. 1. Weston Creek, ACT: Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd. ISBN 0-9587978-9-7. OCLC 28964777.
• Job, Macarthur (1992). Air Crash. 2. Weston Creek, ACT: Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd. ISBN 1-875671-01-3. OCLC 221135405.
• Kebabjian, Richard (1997–2008). "PlaneCrashInfo.com".
• 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.
• Ranter, Harro; Lujan, Fabian I. (1996–2008). "Aviation Safety Network". Flight Safety Foundation.

See also

• Qantas Flight 1
• List of accidents and incidents involving airliners by airline