New Zealand News

One of the reasons was that the base cost of the aircraft was less than a third that of one of the two considered rivals, the Pil- atus PC-9. The other machine considered the most direct competitor is the Finnish Valmet Redigo.

The PC-9, unlike the Airtrainer, is turbine powered, but Hyde said a turbine version of the CT-4 had been built, engined with an Allison 250D, and was being readied for test flying. Very little beefing up to the standard CT-4 airframe had been necessary.

A total of 96 CT-4s were built, It is understood the Ansett requirement was won on tender by Pacific Aerospace. The specific reason for its postponement was not revealed though the ATI group have put quite a few projects on hold owing to the pilots’ dispute.

Mr Hyde said it had been planned to complete the first aircraft in five months and the last in a year. Meanwhile, the line was being kept ready for quick activation, in company with the company’s Fletcher Fu24 and Cresco currently in production for export orders.

Hold-off on the Big – 400

Union niggles or airline manipulations? Air New Zealand’s reasons for not taking delivery of its first Boeing 747-400 set off a tetchy burst of conflicting claims between the pilots and the airline.

The company announced its decision to lease or sell the 747-400 in late September, four weeks before it was due to take delivery. Two more of the super jumbos are still on order, for delivery in 1990. The surprise delivery cancellation came at the peak of a promotional campaign to publicise the airline’s share offer. The new jet was the centrepiece of the campaign.

Company chairman, Mr Bob Matthew, said the move was taken because no agreement had been reached with the New Zealand Airline Pilots’ Association on conditions and pay for flying the machine, and the company could not afford to risk having the aircraft lie idle after delivery.

Speculation on what would happen to the jumbo was rife, in early November. One financial analyst involved with the airline estimated that leasing the aircraft would cut $10. 5m from the air- line’s pre-tax profit in the present year. However, if it were sold outright, the airline would stand to make a $20 to $30m capital gain because of price increases since the jet was purchased- but over the long term an outright sale would mean slower growth for the company. The NZALPA refuses to accept the blame for the cancellation. It claims that flying as an ‘orphan’ for the better part of a year before being joined by other aircraft of the type would almost certainly be less than economic. It made much better financial sense to begin 747-400 operations with two and preferably three aircraft, and the pilot issue was just a ploy, according to the union.

Whatever, there were costly items associated with the introduction. The airline originally planned to seek interchangeability between 747-200 and 400 crews, but was obliged to abandon this when the FAA ruled on separate licenses. Like Qantas, the airline planned to reintroduce the rank of second officer for the aircraft, and was on the verge of recruiting 20 new pilots for the job.

Making Use of Range

There was also speculation about taking full advantage of the extended range of the -400 series, though there is nothing in the wind yet that goes beyond the airline’s present maximum (sometimes 14 hours) westbound Los Angeles/Auckland non-stop leg. Earlier this year about the time Qantas flew a 747-400 London Sydney non-stop, a notice to airmen was put out by the Air Trans- port Division suggesting the maximum duty hours for technical crew members be extended to 22 hours (the maximum at the time, including discretionary extensions, was 18. 5 hours).

It was met with vehement opposition from the union, Looking several years ahead, some pilots linked it with the projected 4% improvement in specific fuel consumption which would possibly enable the-400 to carry commercial loads between Europe and Australasia over a 20-21 hour time span. The 22 hour span has since been dropped to 20 hours, and approved.

Airline Shares Ease Off

As predicted, Air New Zealand share are taking off-a ‘steady climb out’ as one airline man put it. When the shares hit the Auck- land Stock Exchange on October 24, the first block changed hands at $2. 75. Off market trading-where most of the business is done-saw the price vary between $2. 50 and $2. 75.

The 84 million public shares went on offer on October 6 at $2. 40 each, and the issue was well over-subscribed. Brokers said the demand from private investors was so strong that some of the shares allocated to institutional investors had been trans- ferred over.

More than 6,000 Air New Zealand staff bought up the 14 million shares allocated them. Nearly 35,000 share certificates were mailed out in time to comply with stock exchange listing.

Bid for Private Surveillance

A contract was expected to be signed by the end of 1989 handing over all or part of the fisheries surveillance work around New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone to a private contractor. The contractor is Safe Air, the wholly Air New Zealand owned airline specialising in domestic freight work. Safe Air is understood to have received approval from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries for the Work, (MAF)

MAF has claimed that the existing RNZAF Orion operations are not coordinated with the Ministry, and that surveillance was needed which was based solely on fisheries. The RNZAF expressed surprise at these comments and pointed out that it was in daily contact with MAF’s Fisheries Control Centre.

The Safe Air operation is planned around a similar operation undertaken in Britain by Flight Refuelling. The New Zealand Company would also use twin turboprop Dornier 228-200s, with a cockpit crew of two and provision for observers and equipment. As such it would compliment rather than replace the Orion patrols.

Prompt for Weary Airmen

A spin-off from a research programme at the Auckland Medical School could provide an answer to the problem of pilots unexpectedly dozing off, or losing attention at crucial times such as airport approaches.

The discovery came during a study of schizophrenia led by professor James Wright, head of the department of psychology

and behavioural sciences. One aspect of schizophrenia involves

disorder in a person’s ability to maintain attention. In research, a formula was discovered for measuring a per son’s level of attention, using an electroencephalograph which measures brain signals, and processing the information in a computer. The ‘clever bit’ says Professor Wright, was the discovery of the system of analysis which gives a clear indication of the attentive state.

It means the attentive state of a crew member can be monitored simply by attaching a small, stick on sensor to the forehead near the hairline and processing the onboard encephalograph’s signals through the aircraft computer. It would allow for both a cockpit warning system and a more graduated monitoring system of the crews’ attentive states.

The university has patented the development and has begun seeking capital for its commercial exploitation. Interest has been shown by several overseas bodies including NASA. Wright believes the first practical application to the system may not be applied to pilots but to long distant US truckers.

No Stand-Alone Authority

Yet another reorganisation of the Civil Aviation Authority raises an angry debate between the general aviation industry and the Government, over matters of independence and safety.

Absorbing the former Civil Aviation Authority is the Air Transport Division, into which six departments have been whittled. down to three: airworthiness, aerodromes and air navigation standards; personal licensing and medical, and general aviation and airline transport. As the name suggests, the ATD is still a division of the Ministry of Transport, which is in conflict with the Swedavia-MacGregor report which last year recommended a ‘stand alone’ authority.

The Aviation Industry Association, heading opposition to these plans, charges that the control of civil aviation is passing rapidly from technical experts to professional bureaucrats. Dennis Thompson, president of the AIA, sees a regime so out of touch and unsympathetic that the industry will eventually resort to ‘underground’ tactics in order to survive-in the same way that small operators have fought heavy charges imposed by the Airways Corporation by simply not filing flight plans, or flying VFR when they should be IFR.

While the Minister for Civil Aviation was formerly advised on safety matters by a director with a technical background, it will in future rest with two civil servants with management and resources backgrounds, critics say. In the present day situation,this would be the Secretary of Transport, Mrs Margaret Bazley and the manager of the ATD, Mr Brian Lynch.

Safety Problem Denied

Replying to these criticisms, Mr Lynch told Australian Aviation that one of the major reasons for not setting up a stand alone civil aviation authority was cost-up to $2 million which would have to be recouped from the industry. While safety was at the top of priorities, there were other issues best dealt with under the coordi nated policy of a Ministry.

Of the safety advisory role to Ministers, he said previous directors had relied heavily on advice from people “further down the line”, and this would be continued. “Neither I or Mrs Bazley make claims of technical expertise, and we’ve no intention of stepping in front of advice that does come from experts. ”

No Confidence in Confidentiality

If there are qualms about the way ministers are briefed on safety, there are still more over the alleged lack of a confidential incident reporting system for aircrews. Airline pilots are increasingly pointing to excellent confidential systems operating in Australia, the United Kingdom and America. Early in 1989, the Independent Safety Assurance Team (ISAT) was established, with the catchphrase: ‘Feedback for Safety’.

A prime mover was Ms Fiona Scott-Milligan, an aviation psychologist. The two other members of the team were Captain Brian Wyness, a senior Air New Zealand pilot, and Mr Grant Miller, an air traffic control expert. The team is funded by the Airways Corporation. It functions similarly to its overseas counterparts. Reports come in, are analysed, possible trends and hazards identified,and then in ‘de-identified’ form the information is fed back to civil aviation authorities. However, little if any reports are coming in from professional pilots. According to Captain Peter Rhodes, a member of the International Federation of Airline Pilots’ Associations’ accident analysis group, the problem stems from the refusal of the Government to guarantee the confidentiality of cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight Data tapes from all but accident investigation. Rhodes says that several times, the former Minister of Justice, Geoffrey Palmer (now Prime Minister) has refused legis lative protection for these tapes, as enacted in other countries including Australia, because it would contravene freedom of information legislation. As a result, pilots were also convinced that no such confidentiality protection could be guaranteed for information going to ISAT.

New Zealand ALPA spokesman, Captain Tony Dodwell, pointed out that theproblem was compounded by the smallness of the country, and the likelihood of anonymous sources being recognized. One worthwhile step, he suggested, would be for the funding and staff to come from outside the authority and industry- say from a university.

Galaxy Handles the Ice

America’s largest aircraft, the C-5 Galaxy, can handle the McMurdo sea ice runway; that’s official. Weighing in at 290tonnes, after a 50 tonne fuel burn off from Christchurch Airport,the first Galaxy put down at McMurdo on October 4.

Engineers were confident the 2. 5 metre deep ice would not break, but they were aware that it would sag over a time under the weight of the aircraft. So during the four hours of unloading, surveyors instruments were set up to monitor the aircraft, and move it if it sank too quickly. The same aircraft flew a later flight. The head of polar programmes for the American National Science Foundation, Dr Peter Wilkniss, said that although it had not been decided whether Galaxy flights would become a regular part of the Antarctic programme, the two flights demonstrated a new capability to deal with disasters such as oil spills and the stranding of tourists and other personnel. A Galaxy had been used to fly 52 tonnes of oil spill clean up material to the Bahia Paraiso wreck – the equipment was flown to the tip of South America and then shipped to Palmer Station. The Galaxy flights to McMurdo carried helicopters, general supplies and bulky ground navigation aids. Normally these heavy lifts are undertaken by Starlifters.

Briefs

• A midair collision between two Skyhawk aircraft of the RNZAF’s Kiwi Red aerobatics team resulted in the death of one pilot. The six aircraft flying low near their Ohakea base were practising a pre-landing sequence known as a “roll under break” when the canopy and possibly the nose of an aircraft piloted by Flying Officer Graham Carter came up underneath another. Carter’s aircraft crashed but the other Skyhawk pilot managed to return his damaged machine to base.

• Immortalised in bronze -Jean Batten, New Zealand’s most famous airwoman, in a 2. 4 metre statue unveiled at Auckland International Airport by the Governor General, the Most Rev Sir Paul Reeves. Miss Batten died in 1982 and is buried in a pauper’s grave in Majorca. The sculpture is Anthony Stones, an English-based New Zealander.

• A Continental 747 bound for Honolulu turned back to Auck land two hours out after a passenger who tried to open the doors of the jet was forcibly restrained. A 27 year old Briton was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He didn’t have much hope, an airline Spokesman told passengers-about 18 tonnes of air pressure held the doors shut at cruising altitude.