Dare devils and drunks behind the wheel

Barry Lane chronicles a litany of accidents and deaths that could have been prevented had the police and civil aviation authorities been more on the mark ... Barry wants an online public register of convicted drunk drivers and for CASA to get tougher with offending pilots 

CASA's limited warning to the public about pilots with form

A STATE of gloom descended over me after reading a couple of recent news reports. 

Both pieces detailed the circumstances of "accidental" but, in my view, thoroughly avoidable deaths - attributable primarily to an abject failure of law enforcement.

Ian Lovell, 35, died at the hands of a CASA licensed pilot Barry (Bad Boy Bazza) Hempel, 60.

The report of this death demonstrated in no uncertain terms why Hempel, a veteran aerobatic champion, should not have been piloting a cake mixer in his kitchen, let alone an aircraft with a paying passenger on board.

CASA knew that in addition to an atrocious history of dishonesty with authorities and non-compliance with the law, Hempel had "severe epileptic-like seizures".

Just the sort of person that one would want to avoid at all costs in the air or on the roads.

One newspaper report said (paywall):

"Official documents show that CASA even let Hempel maintain his private pilot aeroplane licence to conduct endorsement training of other aviators, despite 13 fresh convictions under the Civil Aviation Act, and a CASA finding in November 2007 that stated:

'[you] have a long established record of breaking the law relevant to aviation safety which is indicative of an intrinsic lack of honesty and integrity which is incompatible with you being entrusted with flight crew licences ... your record of motor vehicle-related offences as well as the aviation-related offences indicates a flagrant disregard by you of safety matters ... your actions indicate an inappropriate attitude to legal authority, and a flagrant disregard to the collective requirements of safety systems ... (you are) an unacceptable risk to recidivism that threatens aviation safety.' 

It was a scathing judgment that stripped Hempel of his commercial pilot's licence - yet it expressly allowed him to continue flying, as well as endorsement for training and instructing (teaching existing pilots how to fly different types of planes)."

I did a search of CASA's website to see if there was anything which might support any of these claims and all I could find was an appeal for information from the public after the fatal crash.

CASA sought information from anyone who had bought a ticket or a gift voucher for a flight on the ill-fated Yak-52 "warbird" prior to it taking Hempel and his unfortunate passenger to their deaths. 

No report of any disciplinary proceeding or finding and no report of any complaint from a member of the public or anyone else. 

Nothing from the six volumes of CASA material summarised in a police forensic report presented to Coroner John Hutton's inquest. 

Why CASA had not completely grounded Hempel years before that fateful, but on past performance completely predictable, day on August 31, 2008, I can't imagine.  

*   *   *

IT should be said in CASA's defence however, that it did act before a fatality occurred when Justice Bernard Murphy of the Federal Court recently rubbed out Alligator Airways run by another flier named Rob Kendrick. 

HH's reasons for judgment include the following synopsis of the case against Kendrick and Alligator:

"CASA pointed to a series of issues over the period 2009 to April 2012 that were of concern to it in the operations of Alligator which included the maintenance and airworthiness of Alligator's aircraft, the proficiency of its pilots, and its view that there was a systemic problem within Alligator in regard to such issues. It referred in particular to seven key incidents between June 2010 and late April 2012. It described the last three incidents in April 2012 as the 'straw that broke the camel's back' leading, against the backdrop of the earlier matters, to the issue of the suspension notice and the application for the prohibition order. The three recent incidents are an engine failure of a Cessna aircraft on 14 April 2012 which required an unpowered emergency landing, a low-flying incident on 20 April 2012 which could have led to a mid-air collision with a helicopter, and the failure of a turbo-charger on takeoff on 28 April 2012 which also required an emergency landing." 

Ace crime reporter for The Age, John Silvester, summed up the case here. 

Again I searched CASA's website and what did I find? Three relatively short notes published on May 4, 2012, on May 10, 2102 and June 4, 2012.

Only the note of May 4, 2012 provided any indication of CASA's case against AA but it was lamentably short of detail. 

Following Justice Murphy's decision on June 8, I would've expected to see a fulsome media release from CASA summarising HH's reasons and a link to them.

John Silvester's excellent piece is the only report I've seen in widely circulating public media.

In my humble opinion CASA was too slow in proceeding against AA and Kendrick given its litany of serious misdemeanours over at least three years and has, at all stages of the case, left the public woefully uninformed about the risks of flying with AA. 

*   *   *

Racking up the convictions

THIS chronicle of grief was followed by a report in The Age on June 20 concerning the death of Helen Higinbotham, 92, on May 12 last year. 

Great-grandmother Mrs Higinbotham was killed instantly when John Stein, 63, a serial drink-driving offender, drove his car into her bedroom at four in the morning. 

Stein, who had a BAC of .174 at the time, had apparently been drinking full-strength beer at a local RSL club for several hours before he killed Mrs Higinbotham.

Stein will not face trial over Mrs Higinbotham's death because he was found on June 19 unfit to plead by a Supreme Court jury. 

Stein suffered brain injury after a serious car crash in 1968.

Since 1995, Stein had accrued five drink driving convictions and was unlicensed at the time of Mrs Higinbotham's death. 

*   *   *

CONSIDER the case of Alan Philip Brown. 

On October 24, 2001 while in an alcoholic fog created by a BAC of .171, he drove his four-wheel drive through an intersection shortly before midnight and collided with another vehicle driven by Carol Jancic.

Ms Jancic was seriously injured and her passenger, Margaret Loveday, was killed.

Brown, who was 35 at the time, had never held a driver licence.

In December 1982, aged 16, Brown was jailed, disqualified from obtaining a licence and fined for a string of driving offences. 

By 2002, Brown had racked up 112 convictions from 25 court appearances including 10 drink-driving offences.

In 1988, he was sentenced to three years and three months jail after killing his cousin in a drunken smash. 

In sentencing Brown for killing Ms Loveday, HH Judge David Jones of the County Court told him:

"[Your] long history of offending was disgraceful. It indicates an utter contempt for the road laws of this state and no concern for the safety of people who use the roads.

You drive when you do not hold a licence, you drive when you are disqualified from holding a licence and you drive when your blood alcohol exceeds 0.05 per cent." 

*   *   *

TO cap off this thoroughly depressing excursion is the case of Dale Robert Albert.

On February 15, 2007, Albert was riding a motorcycle which collided with pedestrian Mark Kasper.  

Albert, aged 40, was drunk (BAC of .155), speeding, unlicensed and his motorbike was unregistered and unlit. 

Following the collision, Kasper was in an induced coma in intensive care for four weeks.  

He made satisfactory progress thereafter but suffered complications in May 2007 and died from multiple organ failure on June 25 that year. 

In the Court of Appeal, HH David Harper outlined Albert's prior offending:

"The respondent admitted to many previous offences. They begin on 31 July 1990, when he was convicted of driving a motor vehicle whilst having a blood alcohol content exceeding the prescribed limit. He was sentenced to pay a fine of $350, and his driver's licence was cancelled. He was disqualified for a period of 11 months from obtaining a fresh licence. Similarly, on 15 February 1994, he was convicted of the same offence and was sentenced to be discharged without penalty. His driver's licence was cancelled, however, and a period of 13 months' disqualification was imposed.

Then, on 11 September 2001, he was convicted of aggravated burglary, criminal damage and causing injury recklessly.

In each case, the matter was adjourned for 12 months.

On 10 July 2005, the respondent was again convicted of driving a motor vehicle whilst having a blood alcohol content exceeding the prescribed limit (his third such conviction) and was sentenced to be discharged without penalty. His driver's licence was cancelled and he was disqualified from obtaining a further licence for a period of 10 months.

On 5 January 2006, he was convicted of three counts of destroying property intentionally ... On the counts of destroying property intentionally, unlawful assault, breaching the terms and conditions of an intervention order, aggravated burglary and theft, he was sentenced to be released on a community based order for a period of 12 months.

This sentence was accompanied by a special condition - that he either be assessed for alcohol and drug addiction or that he submit to medical, psychiatric or psychological assessment and to treatment as required.

On the charges of driving a motor vehicle whilst disqualified and failing to report an accident the respondent was sentenced to pay an aggregate fine of $1,000.

In addition, on the ninth charge, his driver's licence was suspended for a period of three months; and on the eleventh charge, his driver's licence was cancelled and he was disqualified for a period of 12 months from obtaining a further licence.

Finally, on 4 September 2006, the respondent was convicted of breaching the terms and conditions of an intervention order, and was sentenced to pay a fine of $300.

All these convictions preceded the events of 15 February 2007." 

*   *   *

WAIT, there's more. There's the more recent case of Tanya Chilly, 35, who was jailed for three months on June 8 this year after rolling her Mitsubishi Pajero 4WD with 10 children on board, nine of whom were unrestrained. 

Yes, 9 children unrestrained.

Chilly, who had three priors for drunken driving, was also sozzled at the time (BAC of .233) and unlicensed.

Miraculously, none of the children was killed although three were seriously injured and two had corrective surgery and were in hospital for up to two weeks.

Will Chilly follow Hempel, Stein, Brown and Albert until she kills someone - who knows?

She might come to her senses and reform while in jail. 

What I propose for cases like Hempel's and Kendrick's is that CASA start acting at a much earlier stage of offending and that it be subject to an "intensive disclosure order" so that, at the least, if it fails in its duty to protect the public, the public might be able to protect themselves.

Could anyone seriously imagine that Ms Hare would have bought a ticket for Mr Lovell to fly with Barry Hempel or that Mr Lovell would have taken off with him if either of them had known of his history?

So far as the drunk drivers are concerned, these cases show that alcoholism and recidivism go hand in hand when it comes to driving cars.

Until addicts can demonstrate that they have kicked the habit, law-abiding road users have a right to be protected from them.

They should be subject to "intensive supervision orders" and by that I mean, they should be watched by police and the public morning, noon and night. 

A register (probably online) of those who have been convicted of drunk driving and lost their licences or been disqualified, should be established.

It should be open to the public and operate all day every day. Details of perps' drunk driving offences should be distributed to servos and liquor outlets near where they live.

If residents of the Lexington Gardens retirement village, where both Mrs Higinbotham and Stein lived, had known that Stein was an alcoholic driving without a licence and reported him to police, maybe she's be alive and kicking. 

We need the knowledge, otherwise people are powerless to act for themselves or others.