Plane crash claims two generations of farming dynasty
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday April 1, 2011
THE plains of the Gwydir valley that provided their livelihood claimed the lives of two generations of a prominent Moree farming family on Wednesday.A farmer, Guy Boland, and his daughter Hannah, 12, are in hospital after a light plane carrying six people crashed just 900 metres shy of Moree Airport. Last night he was critical and his daughter stable, the hospital said.The patriarch of the farming dynasty, Digby Boland, 77, and his wife, Robyn, 77, and daughter Michelle Kliest, 47, died with Phillip Jones, 63, pilot and owner of the single-engine Piper Lance.For more than 130 years the Bolands have farmed the Moree plains in northern NSW. They arrived in the district in 1889 and spread out over different properties during the 20th century. Originally a stud sheep breeder, Digby Boland owned cattle and wheat farms in NSW and Queensland and a 22,000- hectare cattle farm in Moree. His son, Guy, oversees the properties. The family was flying back from Brewarrina, where they were inspecting cattle.In a town of 9000, the loss would be felt deeply, said Mr Digby's cousin, George Boland."I suppose the town has now lost two good friends and it's a tragedy. It's hard for us to come to terms with," he said.Witnesses said the aircraft was flying unusually low and had apparently clipped trees before it crashed upside down only 50 metres from Gwydir caravan park.It took the NSW death toll for light plane accidents to 23 since 2008.Brian Bigg, the editor of Australian Pilot, the magazine of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, wrote last year that "we seem to have hit a wall with improving things".The number of fatal accidents was falling before 2003 but has since risen each year."Aeroplanes are becoming much more complicated," he said yesterday. "There are a lot of computers running planes and there's an argument that some have systems so complicated you should do [extra training]."A caravan park worker said residents heard the plane "coughing as if it was out of fuel".The aviator Dick Smith said fatalities were almost unavoidable. "It's very difficult to [reduce]. It'd be so expensive to have more training you would practically have no one flying."The Civil Aviation Safety Authority declined to comment.
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald
