44. Captain BALFOURasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air whether it is the intention of the Government to take steps to ensure the adoption of any of the recommendations contained in the Report of the Air Ministry court of inquiry into the loss on 17th June of the cross-Channel air liner "City of Ottawa"; and, if so, which of these recommendations will be acted upon and when will such action take effect?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for AIR (Mr. Montague)The Report is being examined, and the recommendations will be most carefully considered, but I am not yet in a position to state what action will be taken by the Air Ministry as a result.
§ 54. Rear-Admiral SUETERasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air whether his Department has reviewed the finding of the committee which inquired into the disaster to the air liner "City of Ottawa" on 17th June last, when seven lives were lost; whether he can state the number of hours the starboard engine had run in the machine before, as is stated in the Report, the studs of the big end bearing fractured under fatigue; and whether the Air Ministry concur in the statement in the committee's report that this mishap was of a type which is unavoidable?
§ Mr. MONTAGUEThe answer to the first part of the question is that the Report is now being carefully examined 1288 in all its bearings; to the second part, that the aircraft had flown 126 hours from the time when the starboard engine was installed after complete overhaul up to the commencement of its last journey. As regards the last part of the question, the purport of the passage quoted from the Report is to exonerate Messrs. Napiers and Imperial Airways from any suggestion of negligence, and this finding the Air Ministry accept. The question whether any further precautions can be taken in future to guard against such mishaps as the failure of these studs is being actively pursued by all concerned.
§ Commander BELLAIRSIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the statement that the accident was unavoidable was based on the idea that the aircraft was three years old, and therefore obsolescent?
§ Mr. MONTAGUEI am not aware of anything of the kind.