The Commissioner found that Captain Collins carried with him on the
fatal flight a small pocket diary usually kept in his breast pocket; and
a ring-binder losse-leaf notebook carried in his flight bag. It is said
in paragraph 351 "that the chief inspector had obtained possession of
the small pocket diary, but it did not contain any particulars relating
to Antarctica flights". At the hearing Mrs Collins described the diary
and said that on 12th December 1979 Captain Crosbie had returned it to
her together with certain other items of personal property belonging to
her husband. She explained that there were no pages in the ring-binder
when she received it "other than some loose papers which are still
folded inside the front cover". The question arose as to what had
happened, to the balance of the contents of the notebook. Captain
Crosbie himself was called by counsel for the Airline Pilots Association
to give evidence before the Commission. He explained that his
involvement in all post-accident matters was as a welfare officer for
the association; and in that capacity he had been given by the police
personal property for distribution to next-of-kin. When asked about
pages which normally would have been within the ring-binder covers he
said that most of the recovered items had been damaged considerably by
water and kerosene, and in answer to the Commissioner, who had asked
"How could the ring-binder cover itself be intact and yet the pad of
writing paper disappear?", he said, "I suggest the cover survived the
water and kerosene but the paper contents didn't". He added in answer to
questions by counsel--
"If papers were removed from the ring binder who would have done
that.... I would have myself I presume.
Do you recall doing that.... No not specifically. I was involved in
destroying a lot of papers that were damaged and would have caused
distress some because of that and some because it was the obvious
thing to do."
As a further sample of the kind of material that might have been
provided by the criticized officers had they been given the opportunity
we were referred to a signed statement by Captain Crosbie forwarded to
the police (who by then were investigating the allegations of
conspiracy) on 5th May 1981. In the statement he has said after he had
given evidence before the Inquiry he recalled that because of the poor
condition of the notebook and severely damaged paper inside it and
"rather than present this to Mrs Collins" he had disposed of the pages
himself. Then having cleaned the cover he dried it in the sun and
returned it to Mrs Collins. It would seem to be an understandable
reaction although once again the effect this kind of material might have
had if it had been put forward is not for us to assess. In any event,
concerning this matter the Commissioner said in paragraph 352--
"As to the ring-binder notebook, it had been returned to Mrs
Collins by an employee of the airline, but all the pages of the
notebook were missing. _Captain Gemmell_ was asked about this in
evidence. He suggested that the pages might have been removed
because they had been damaged by kerosene. However, the ring-binder
notebook itself, which was produced at the hearing, was entirely
undamaged." (Emphasis added.)
It is clear that the Commissioner has wrongly attributed the explanation
given by Captain Crosbie concerning the removal of missing pages to
Captain Gemmell. The latter was never questioned at all about possible
reasons for the missing pages. The fifth and sixth respondents have
formally acknowledged that the reference to Captain Gemmell in that
paragraph is wrong.