The City of Khartoum ' At the resumed inquest, at
Alexandria on Monday, on the victims of the wreck of the air-liner, ' City of Khartoum,' the Chief Inspector of Accidents for the Air Ministry outlined his tentative conclusions, which, if substantiated by further evidence, justify serious criticism of the administration of Imperial Airways. The air-liner fell into the sea as result of a failure of all three engines when nearing Alexandria. Major Cooper found that, owing to an adjustment of the carburettors, the liner's petrol consumption had been increased by at least 10 per cent., and that such an increase would have been sufficient to exhaust the petrol-supply at the point where the aeroplane dropped. The pilot, in evidence, stated that before the engines failed the star- board fuel gauge registered nil, and the port gauge 25 gallons ; but Major Cooper believes that an obscure fault could have caused the gauges to read falsely. He describes the alteration in the carburettors, of which the pilot knew nothing, as unnecessary. That explana- tion accounts so adequately for an otherwise inexplicable -accident that it will be difficult to reject ; but, if it is true, a, technical oversight was committed as inexplicable as the accident itself, and someone is very gravely to blame.
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