Date:	Monday 13 September 1993
Time:	15:52
Type:	de Havilland DH-82a Tiger Moth
Owner/operator:	Allen Hutchinson t/a Tiger Moth Scenic Flights
Registration:	VH-BXF
MSN:	DHA.152
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Cairns Airport, Cairns, QLD -   Australia
Phase:	Taxi
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	Cairns Airport, Cairns, Queensland (YBCS)
Destination airport:	Cairns Airport, Cairns, Queensland (YBCS)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
de Havilland DH-82a Tiger Moth MSN DHA.152 Toc as A17-151 at 1 AD 9.11.40 (or 4.11.40). To 8 EFTS Narrandera 10.12.40. To DHA Mascot 9.11.42 for overhaul; to 2 AP 21.12.42. To 1 AOS Cootamundra 28.12.42; issued to 10 EFTS Temora 5.1.43. Crashed Temora 18.10.43; to DHA Mascot 15.11.43 for repairs & overhaul; DHA No T186. To 2 AP 30.12.43; issued to CFS Tamworth 10.1.44; to Parkes 19.1.44; Point Cook 18.9.44. Stored Point Cook wef 11.5.45; for sale 6.12.45.

Sold 20.2.46 for £362.10/- to Royal Aero Club of South Australia; issued 27.8.46. Registered as VH-AXF (C of R 1042) 22.8.46 to Royal Aero Club of South Australia, Parafield, SA (as c/n T186 - a reference to its 1943 overhaul). Re-registered VH-BXF 29.9.49 to same owner. Badly damaged when overturned Virginia, SA 15.5.49 (as VH-BXF); repaired and returned to service. Re-registered VH-BWF 18.4.51 to same owner. Re-registered VH-UEF 23.4.57 to same owner.

Re-registered VH-BXF 28.6.57 to Frederick W Burke, Wagga Wagga, NSW. Registration cancelled 22.9.65. Re-registered 28.9.65 to E D Driver, RAAF Amberley, Qld. Swung and overturned on take-off Toowoomba 2.1.70; according to the summary of the ATSB report into that accident:

"Weather conditions were fine with a 5 knot westerly wind. The pilot had completed his dual conversion training on the aircraft type and was authorised to make a solo flight. He successfully completed one solo circuit with a landing into the west, as planned, on to a grass flight strip on the southern side of the runway. When the aircraft had decelerated to about 10 knots, the pilot decided to immediately take-off again. He applied power but, after travelling about 250 to 300 feet on a take-off path which, undetected by the pilot, was diverging to the left from the heading of the strip, the aircraft struck a gable strip marker and then overturned".

Repaired and returned to service. Re-registered 15.2.70 to Darling Downs Aero Club, Toowoomba, Qld. Registration cancelled 30.5.79. Re-registered 14.10.83 to John A Doughton, Toowoomba, Qld. Sold 10.91 to Tiger Moth Scenic Flights (Allen Hutchinson), Cairns (replacement for VH-CES)

Substantially damaged by "prop-wash" from a parked Bandeirante aircraft on 13.9.93 when taxying at Cairns Airport, Cairns, Queensland. According to the ATSB report into the accident:

"A Bandeirante aircraft, VH-XFL, was parked in the western run-up bay and facing into an 8 to 12kt wind. A maintenance engineer was at the controls conducting an engine run. A Tiger Moth aircraft,VH-BXF,landed on runway 33 and commenced taxiing via taxiways YANKEE and ALPHA. This entailed taxiing behind the Bandeirante. As BXF taxied behind XFL, it was blown over onto its nose and left wing tip. The engineer did not respond, over a period of one minute and forty seconds, to radio calls from the Surface Movement Controller (SMC) telling him to shut down the engines. The engines were eventually shut down following signals from ground personnel.

The pilot of the Tiger Moth aircraft later indicated that he was not aware that the area occupied by the Bandeirante aircraft was a designated run-up area and he assumed that the aircraft was waiting for a takeoff clearance at a holding point. He also indicated that he had taxiied behind other turbo-prop aircraft which had their engines running, without problem. When the engineer in charge of the Bandeirante asked for taxi clearance to the run-up bay, there was no mention of an engine run. The SMC was thus unaware that an engine run was the purpose of entering the area.

The engineer reported that power greater than 50 percent was not used and that he regarded this as low power. However, the propeller wash was strong enough to drastically affect the Tiger Moth some 50m behind. The severity of the propeller wash was exacerbated by the local wind conditions".

Damaged as per the above & stored Cairns (until 12.98). Registered 21.7.99 to Sydney J Beck, Mareeba, Qld. Registration cancelled 5.11.2004 as WFU. Fuselage on display (2004-2011) at Sid Beck’s Military Vehicle Museum, Mareeba, near Cairns. Registered as VH-UEF 27.8.2012 to Tonny Wolzak, Bucasia, Qld (rebuilt at Luskintyre, NSW); aircraft based at Caboolture, painted in RAAF colours as A17-151. Re-registered 11.2.2016 to Peter Roy Nelson, Mapleton, Qld. Currently registered.

1. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a17a.htm
2. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH82.pdf
3. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/pAus1.html
4. ATSB Summary of the accident of 2.1.70: https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1970/aair/aair197000001/
5. ATSB Summary of the accident of 13.9.93: https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1993/aair/199302856/
6. https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=40760
7. Tiger Moth VH-BXF at Toowoomba, Queensland (YTWB) 1977: https://www.airhistory.net/photo/2952/VH-BXF
8. Tiger Moth VH-BXF at Cairns, Queensland (YBCS) February 1991: https://www.airhistory.net/photo/195584/VH-BXF
9. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austb/VH-BXF.html
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairns_Airport

Other occurrences involving this aircraft

2 January 1970

VH-BXF

Darling Down Aero Club

0

Toowoomba Aerodrome, Toowoomba, QLD

sub

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Mar-2018 09:08	Pineapple	Added
20-Jan-2022 00:26	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Total occupants, Location, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
20-Jan-2022 00:36	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Total occupants, Nature, Source, Narrative, Category]
10-Jun-2022 04:11	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]