New Zealand News

Areport by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission said once the 737 pilot and the pilot of the Tomahawk realised they were on converging paths it was too late to take effective evasive action. The near miss occurred as the 737, from Christchurch, was approaching to land. The Tomahawk was making reports on road traffic around Wellington for a local radio station.

The report said that in the Tomahawk pilot’s judgement, that there was enough room for him to pass safely in front of the 737, was erroneous and the visual separation was not monitored in any effective way.

“This air miss resulted from a system of air traffic control clearance with visual separation which was not in accordance with the Manual of Air Traffic Service, but was approved by the Airways Corporation”.

The report also said grime and fine water droplet marks on the interior of the Tomahawk’s windscreen might have contributed to the pilot’s erroneous judgement. The control tower radar was out of service on the day.

Old Aircraft Returns Home

An aircraft believed to have been originally owned by King Edward VIII is on its way back to England, after being restored in a country town near the southern tip of NZ.

The Fox Moth, built in Manchester 61 years ago, is one of two registered in New Zealand and only a handful are extant around the world.

Three years ago the Croydon Aircraft Company at Mandeville near Gore, Southland, was commissioned by the aircraft’s English owners to restore it to its 1932 condition, when it was known as the “Royal Fox”. The principal of the CAC, Colin Smith, said the Fox Moth was bought by a New Zealand Company and arrived in 1935. It has had four owners since then.

The Fox Moth can carry three passengers and the pilot.

At Auckland’s Ardmore aerodrome, Colin Smith said: “The Fox Moth had had dozens of repair jobs over the years. We’ve lost count of how many times it has been damaged one way or the other. “She’s had her wings damaged, prop split, and her under carriage smashed. She caught fire in Fiji, too. ” He said the aircraft was “one hell of a job to fix and restore back to her original form”.

It took about 3000 manhours to finish the job but Mr Smith would not say what the cost was. It is understood to have been several hundred thousand dollars. Colin Smith said copies of the aircraft’s original design were sent from the makers, de Havilland, in England, to make sure that everything was right.

The eye catching Fox Moth was shipped to Los Angeles and flown across the United States to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to take part in the prestigious airshow before heading to New York and across the Atlantic by ship to London.

Two DC-3s in New Role

Two 50 year old Douglas DC-3s have been sold in New Zealand for service with the United Nations in Cambodia.

The aircraft were bought by an Auckland catering company which has a contract to supply and deliver food to UN peacekeepers stationed throughout Cambodia. Until a few months ago the DC-3s operated from Palmerston North, lower North Island, on top dressing or freight runs.

One of the DC-3s came here from Australia a few years ago. The other saw service with the US military, the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the National Airways Corporation and later other operators.

Three Die After Misleading Reports

Two businessmen and their pilot died after the pilot “misleading” position reports to an air traffic controller.

The businessmen chartered a Waikato (North Island) Aero Club junior instructor, James Richard McKinney to fly them to Napier on the east coast in a hired Beech Baron twin.

But the pilot had flown a Baron only once before for 45 minutes in daylight. He got lost at night in low cloud and the aircraft crashed into a hill, killing the three occupants.

A report by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission says the pilot had lied to a Napier air traffic controller, denying her the chance to help him until it was too late. The report said the pilot did not have the minimum time requirements on the Baron for night flying, he had never flown a twin engined plane at night and he was unfamiliar with the Baron’s automatic pilot and other radio navigational instruments.

The pilot had told the aircraft’s owners he was on a private trip. The report said the controller had given the pilot information and he should have flown a circular pattern by maintaining a steady distance from a radio navigational aid.

But the pilot had not been trained in this method. The accident investigators could only speculate why the pilot gave false reports and suggested it might have been to avoid embarrassment or because he feared prosecution of some sort.

Film Made on Air NZ “Rescue”

The Cessna Agcat, bound for Norfolk Island from Pago Pago, was already three hours overdue when an Air New Zealand DC-10 flight crew was diverted to search for it.

That was in December 1978, and the DC-10 captain, Gordon Vette – aided by his flight deck colleagues and a passenger – located the “lost” Cessna. After being in the air for 23 hours 5 minutes the Cessna landed at Norfolk Island just after 11pm. Now a film about the rescue has been made for worldwide release. The film is called Mercy Mission.

Air New Zealand told AA that the movie retells how the DC-10 crew on flight 103 enroute between Nadi and Auckland received an Air Traffic Control call about the Cessna. Captain Vette radioed the Cessna’s American pilot, Jay Prochnow, an experienced Navy pilot. The airline captain was told the Cessna had fuel for only four more hours. Jay Prochnow’s automatic direction finder was also malfunctioning.

Captain Vette was given approval to leave his normal route. Assisted by first officer Arthur Dovey, Flight engineer Gordon Brooks – and by coincidence Malcolm Forsyth, a First Offic. . r who was a passenger DC-10 crew located the “lost” Cessna and directed it to safety. The airliner was late into Auckland but Captain Vette explained the reason why to his passengers who applauded the flight crew’s success. (The full story of this rescue was featured in our June ’83 edition, p100/101) This year the NBC network in the United States contracted a Los Angeles company to produce a film and video about the mid Tasman rescue. Production took place at Warner Roadshow Studios near Surfers Paradise. The airport scenes were shot at Brisbane.

Air New Zealand says the story has been updated to show a 767 in place of the DC-10. A cast of more than 100 and a similar production team were involved in the making of Mercy Mission. One of the pilots involved in the 1978 drama, Mal Forsyth, (now a 767 captain) assisted in the film’s flight deck routines. Air New Zealand staff assisted in many other aspects. They included staff from the Brisbane and Sydney offices.

Gordon Vette was in the news here only recently. He is now CFI at Flightline Aviation and he went up with an Indonesian student pilot on a confidence restoring flight after the student crash-landed a Cessna 172 on his first solo flight of the day at Ardmore Airfield, Auckland.

Christchurch Airport Best in World?

Christchurch international airport has been voted the best in the world in a Qantas customer satisfaction report.

The survey, completed by 15,000 Qantas passengers, showed Christchurch to be rated top in five categories, second in another and equal fourth in the remaining category.

Hugh McCarroll, the airport’s general manager operations, said: “This is a significant and respected survey which rates us ahead of such major airports as Heathrow, Singapore, Sydney, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Auckland, Rome, Honolulu, Nadi Frankfurt and many others”.

Christchurch was rated first in Check in waiting time, check in efficiency, efficiency at boarding gate, courtesy and helpfulness by airline ground staff and efficiency at Immigration and security. It was ranked second behind Singapore for the adequacy and cleanliness of public amenities and fourth for meeting seat allocation requirements.

By the way, Christchurch has a new Qantas airport manager, Karl Velde, who worked for Air New Zealand for just over 25 years. Karl worked in Christchurch, Hamilton and Wellington and his last position before joining Qantas was Wellington airport’s manager for Air New Zealand.

Flying Training Ends at Rnzaf Wigram

Moist eyes marked the end, after 76 years, of flying training at RNZAF Base Wigram, Christchurch. The base is due to close in late 1995 when the only remnant of the Royal New Zealand Air Force having been there will be the Air Force Museum.

Air Vice Marshal John Hosie, who trained at Wigram, like some 3500 other pilots since 1917, told air force personnel and civilians at the ceremonial parade and flypast, that Wigram “could well be one of the oldest operating air bases in the world”. Wigram was the birthplace of the RNZAF and from an emotional point of view it was not easy for many air force people to face up to the closure of Wigram.

After the last Flying Training Wings parade, 16 Airtrainers and several Aermacchi jet trainers staged a flypast.

The next morning the RNZAF’s Historic Flight aircraft, a Tiger Moth and a Harvard left Wigram for the last time, destined for RNZAF Base Ohakea. The Harvard buzzed the airfield and dropped smoke over the central city area before going north. The Airtrainers headed north the following morning, forming a diamond formation as they farewelled Wigram air base.

The Harvard’s noisy farewell was watched by sombre members of the Wigram Airfield Development Support Group, led by a woman whose son did some of his flying training at Wigram. They were about to be taken on a tour of inspection.

The group wants the Wigram base retained for aviation and related purposes. They were heartened with comments by Air Vice Marshal Hosie at the parade when he said it appeared that Wigram would stay as an airfield in the medium term. The air force wanted it kept that way if possible, he said.

A city councillor, Morgan Fahey, says the retention of the RNZAF Wigram base as a flying complex, albeit for civilian use, was a priority. Cr Fahey, deputy chairman of the council sub committee considering the feature use of Wigram, says the sub committee does not want the 247 hectare site to revert to rural land or be sub-divided into industrial estates.

The RNZAF is closing the base for economic reasons. During the 1991 Budget speech, warnings that Wigram would close were given by our Finance Minister, Ruth Richardson. (A general election will be held here before December) More than 16,000 people signed a Wigram Airfield Development Support Group petition which seeks to have the base retained for aviation activities. The petition is now with Parliament.

Rnzaf Ohakea Base Museum Opens

The $NZ600,000 museum at the Royal New Zealand Air Force Ohakea base has just opened- and visitors can enjoy “hands on” exhibitions which include the opportunity to operate the control surfaces of a Strikemaster wing.

The new museum, near the city of Palmerston North in the lower North Island, will feature exhibitions on several squadrons including No 2 squadron, now based at NAS Nowra, NSW. The Ohakea museum is a wing of the RNZAF museum at Wigram, Christchurch. Peter Calkin says the new museum will be a stand alone venture; there is no financial assistance from the RNZAF. Funding includes a substantial Lotteries Commission grant and large donations from Friends of the RNZAF Museum Manawatu-Wanganui branch. The original Ohakea museum dates back to 1976 when an enthusiastic warrant officer began collecting air force memorabilia.

There’s been a lot of activity recently at the Ohakea base, with the recent arrival of 87 air force personnel and 18 aircraft following the move north of the RNZAF’s Wigram Central Flying School. Ohakea has gained 16 Airtrainers and the CFS Historic Flight aircraft – a Harvard and a Tiger Moth.

A340-200 Flies Paris/Auckland 21HRS 31MINS

After a nonstop 10,696 nautical mile (19,808km) flight, an Airbus A340-200 landed at Auckland airport less than 22 hours after takeoff from Le Bourget during the Paris Air Show. Several world records are now being claimed.

Five hours after touchdown, the new Airbus, bearing the words World Ranger, was heading for Paris again after the Airbus chief test pilot, Pierre Baud, presented a rugby ball signed by the French national team, to rugby union officials. All Black and Auckland jerseys were given to the Frenchmen.

The flight beat the previous nonstop journey of 20hrs 9mins set in August 1989 by a Qantas 747-400 over 9720nm (18,000km) between London and Sydney.

When the A340-200 landed it had used 127 tonnes of fuel-but had enough for another three hours flying.

The flight of the World Ranger was the first nonstop flight between Europe and New Zealand. On board were 22 crew, who made use of inflatable airbeds.

The epic flight was sponsored by Airbus Industrie in Tou- louse, southern France. The A340-200 returned to LeBourget over Tonga, Samoa, Hawaii, Alaska, Canada going close to the North Pole, Greenland and south over Britain – like Air New Zealand’s 747-400s-to Paris in time for lunch.

Briefs

• The Dunedin airport, lower South Island, can now handle trans Tasman flights, following a $NZ2. 5 million extension programme.

The runway has been extended 190m to 1900m. Now up to two Boeing 767s or six Boeing 737s can be parked on an apron beside the airport terminal. Before the extension work started there was space for only five Boeing 737s. Dunedin to Australia direct jet services should be the norm by 1995.

•The Government has scrapped proposals to set up a State owned enterprise to run the Milford Sound, Paraparaumu and Ardmore airports. The NZ Minister of Transport, Rob Storey, says Ardmore (Auckland) and Paraparaumu aerodromes (Wellington) will be put out for tender. Milford Sound, near the southern tip of the South Island, will continue in the meantime to be run by the ministry.

• The Duke of Edinburgh has been invited to open the world gliding championships at Omarama, central South Island, in January 1995. A big airshow is planned for the opening day. Up to 120 of the world’s leading glider pilots are expected to take part in the championships, set in a large valley.