MacRobertson Miller Airlines (MMA) was a Western Australian airline that operated between 1927 and 1993. After being purchased by Ansett Transport Industries in 1968, it was eventually rebranded Ansett WA.
In 1955, MacRobertson-Miller Aviation and Airlines WA merged with MacRobertson's holding a 62% shareholding.[4] MacRobertson Miller operated a network of more than 32,000 km, from Esperance in Western Australia to Darwin in the Northern Territory.[1]
On 19 April 1963, Ansett Transport Industries purchased MacRobertson's 62% shareholding and a further 8% from Horrie Miller after MMA, in desperate need of funds for new Fokker F27 Friendship aircraft and planned new jet aircraft, approached Ansett to purchase a major share.[5] Ansett purchased the remaining 30% in November 1968. It was rebranded as MacRobertson Miller Airline Services in June 1969, Airlines of Western Australia in July 1981 and Ansett WA in November 1984.[6] The Ansett WA operation was absorbed into Ansett Australia in 1993.[1]
Thanks to a combination of the long legs flown between destinations in the sparsely-inhabited Pilbara region, an effective rostering and operations system and a well-honed practice of short turnarounds (usually 25 minutes, as is now typical on modern low-cost carriers), the airline's Fokker aircraft had some of the highest utilisation rates in the world and accumulated some of the highest mileages. For 1965 the company's F27s averaged 4150 flight hours. The first F27 purchased by the airline, registered VH-MMS and named RMA Swan, became the first F27 in the world to reach 10,000 flight hours and later the first to accumulate 20,000 hours. It flew over 40,000 hours with MMA, setting another world record for an F27 with a daily utilisation average of 10.66 hours, before being redeployed to parent company Ansett Australia in 1972. The later Fokker F28 fleet was also distinguished by extremely high utilisation - F28 VH-FKA RMA Pilbara became the first of the type to fly 20,000 and 30,000 hours and logged nearly 63,000 hours before it was withdrawn in 1995. The fleet averaged 8.5 flying hours per day in the mid-1970s.
MMA's F28s flew the world's longest twinjet route at one stage, and certainly the world's longest F28 flight, Perth to Kununurra. According to the 5 April 1970 MMA system timetable, the airline was operating F28 jet service into Dampier, Darwin, Derby, Kununurra, Perth and Port Hedland at this time.[10] MMA also flew one of the world's shortest scheduled air services, from Perth to Rottnest Island flying the Douglas DC-3 and later the Fokker F-27 Friendship. MMA's first Fokker F28 Fellowship was actually leased from Braathens SAFE of Norway (VH-MMJ c/n 11013) and returned to Fokker as PH-ZAH after the first of the ordered aircraft arrived. VH-FKD was originally purchased for Ansett division Airlines of New South Wales but transferred to MMA when it proved uneconomical on the NSW intrastate routes. Ironically this aircraft returned to Airlines of New South Wales service several years later.
On 1 July 1949, Douglas DC-3 "Fitzroy" on a schedule flight to Darwin and carrying 14 passengers and a crew of 4 crashed after take-off from Perth in heavy rain. The aircraft crashed into an area of disused army huts north of the town of Guildford (a town directly in line with Perth Airport's major runway 21/03). It is believed to have been caused by the aircraft being incorrectly loaded.
On 31 December 1968, Vickers Viscount "Quininup" VH-RMQ leased from Ansett-ANA broke up in mid-air and crashed 52 kilometres (32 mi) south of Port Hedland Airport in the scrub on Indee Station. Twenty-two passengers and the four crew on board were killed. The aircraft was originally purchased by Trans Australia Airlines.[11]
Fokker F28 Flight MV 372 Perth to Port Hedland - 30 July 1971, VH-FKC: During the long late night hop destination and onward airports became blanketed with fog. The F28 became dangerously low on fuel and after circling for some time Captain Harold Rowell considered ditching the aircraft in the ocean. However, he eventually landed the jet on a gravel runway in the isolated town of Fitzroy Crossing, landing with less than ten minutes of fuel remaining. No life was lost and no injury occurred.
Fokker F28 Fellowships of MMA assisted with the evacuation of Darwin after Cyclone Tracy in December 1974. One F28-1000 carried 128 evacuees, mostly children, on a flight to Perth, though most aircraft carried 80, 20 more than the standard 60 passengers. The MMA F28s helped evacuate 1,250 people out of Darwin in four days.
On 17 January 1974, Fokker F-28-1000 VH-FKA operating Flight MV 492 (a Perth to Darwin "milk run" with 4 stops) overran the runway at Broome Airport. The weather was wet and the aircraft overran the runway threshold by 82 metres, crashing through a wire and picket fence before stopping with the nosewheel sunk in mud. There were no injuries and some minor damage to the aircraft nosewheel doors, a fuselage mounted landing light and the oxygen access panel.[12]
On 26 September 1983, Fokker F28 VH-FKA took off from Perth Airport on a routine flight to the North West. As the aircraft banked left after takeoff on Runway 21, the main passenger door/airstairs suddenly opened. The air hostess sitting in the jump seat adjacent the door lost her shoes. The door had been closed but the lock bar had not been moved to the upright "lock" position. Ground crew also failed to see the outside door release (aft of the door on the fuselage) was not in the correct horizontal position. The co-pilot also failed to see that the door "unlatched" light (which was orange in colour) had remained on. This check formed part of the pre-taxi checklist. However, bright sunlight glare through the starboard cockpit windows made it difficult to see that the light was on. The door fell open as the cabin pressure increased and as the aircraft climbed and banked left. The aircraft circled for two hours above Perth burning fuel before making a safe though spectacular landing.
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