New Zealand News

NZ Minister of Immigration, Mr McTigue, said when introducing the bill to Parliament, that trans Tasman passengers would complete immigration requirements after checking in for their flights. On arrival, precleared travellers would by pass immigration checks, proceeding straight to customs and quarantine lanes. New Zealand and Australian immigration services are developing common preclearance procedures which will allow them to produce electronic entry permits for each country.

Mr McTigue said the system would be introduced in stages, initially applying only to flights originating in NZ or Australia. However, the general wording of the bill meant the system could be expanded to cover other nations. The system would initially be used at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane airports.

The immigration minister said the changes were an essential part of the policy to develop a single aviation market in New Zealand and Australia. They would also enhance closer economic relations and tourism between the two countries. However, while the Australian Government has endorsed preclearance procedures, it appears to have dropped the idea of a common border which would end immigration and customs controls. The head of domestic air services for the Ministry of Transport, Nigel Mouat, says indications from Australian officials were that they wanted to pursue only the preclearance procedures at present.

Mr Mouat, who chairs the trans Tasman border facilitation working party, says the Australians had originally proposed a common border. The Australian Prime Minister, Mr Keating, had proposed that this should happen by late next year.

Rnzaf Orions Upgraded?

A multi million dollar upgrade is being considered for the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s six Orion patrol aircraft which will extend the life of the 27 year old aircraft to 2015. The air force is preparing planning studies for defence approval to replace the wings and rear stabilisers on the Orions as well as upgrading the electronic “eyes and ears” of the aircraft. The wings and stabilisers were prone to corrosion and were reaching the end of their useful fatigue life.

Five Orions were bought new in 1966 and the other was bought second hand in 1985. The planes can carry homing torpedoes, mines and missiles and each Orion has a crew of 11. All six Orions underwent stage one of the avionics upgrade in the mid 1980s. The changes now being considered cover the second stage of the programme. Much of the equip ment on the Orions had not been upgraded since the aircraft were bought.

The RNZAF also plans to spend more than $NZ4m on new electronic autopilot flight control systems for its C-130H Hercules transports. The systems in the five Hercules are old and there are problems finding parts for them. One has been fitted with the new system at the Woodbourne air force base and will be tested in flight for 25 hours before the other Hercules are modified. The Hercs are between 24 and 28 years old.

Short Runway a Safety Handicap

The safety of Wellington airport is being reviewed but the length of its runway a key concern for many years may not be extended because of the high cost.

The Civil Aviation Authority has declared the airport safe- but only because the runway length is compensated for by operational restraints placed on aircraft.

Minister for Transport, Rob Storey, has made public an Authority report into runway safety at the airport that concluded there was “no cause for alarm”. The report noted that conditions at the airport were “extremely hazardous” for aircraft that overshot the runway. Ways to reduce the danger are being studied by the airport company, its consultants and an industry consultative group. Worries about safety at the airport have long centred on runway “obstructions” – a steep slope, a busy road and the sea – on either side of the airport. Most aircraft landing at Wellington are small enough not to require the full length of its runway.

The airport meets International Civil Aviation Organisation safety standards but not its recommendations on runway safety areas. Airport officials are looking at the issue as part of its safety review.

Air NZ in TV Film

Air New Zealand has been selected to feature in a television documentary about great airlines.

The airline says New York’s Eye in the Sky Television Productions will feature Air New Zealand’s Coral route and the Auckland/Los Angeles 747-400 nonstop service in its production entitled Great Airlines of the World.

The show’s producer, Captain Paul Havis and his assistant cameraman flew on Air New Zealand’s Coral route from Papeete to Rarotonga and on to Nadi, highlighting the unique perspective of the pilot’s view. In addition to the main video camera, two ‘lipstick’ sized cameras were clipped onto the flight deck instrument panel, capturing crew activity.

Pilot Discharged on Manslaughter Count

An Australian CAA flying operations inspector, Michael Haxell, was called as an expert witness during a course case against an Auckland helicopter pilot facing a manslaughter charge and a count of causing serious injury.

Mr Haxell told a depositions hearing in the Alexandra (Otago) District court that he thought the helicopter pilot, Anthony Howard Monk, 40, a commercial pilot had taken reasonable care in the preparation for conduct of the flight in which a passenger died.

Monk was flying a Squirrel helicopter on a line mapping operation for an electric power board 14 months ago when the machine struck a 220kv high tension line in Central Otago. A New Zealand air accident inspector, Alister John Buckingham, told the court he would have conducted the flight “much the same” as Anthony Monk. The pilot was also charged with injuring a woman in such circumstances that if she had died he would have been guilty of manslaughter.

After a week long hearing the helicopter pilot was discharged on counts of manslaughter and causing serious injury.

Us Navy to Report on Crash

The United States Navy has provided the Christchurch coroner with a report into the helicopter crash which killed two New Zealanders in Antarctica almost a year ago.

Garth Varcoe and Terry Newport were killed when a US Navy helicopter crashed 40km north of McMurdo Sound on October 13. A Navy serviceman also died. The American pilot and copilot survived. A few days after holding a pre-inquest review with New Zealand Antarctic Programme officials and the widows of the New Zealanders, the coroner, Neil MacLean, received information from the US Navy Chief of Naval Operations. The American, Rear Admiral Doran, said American practice did not permit attendance of representatives or witnesses at inquiries conducted by foreign states.

However, the Admiral said a report written by the Navy’s investigating officer would be sent to the coroner. A key witness at the inquest will be Mr David Comber, formerly with the RNZAF, who went to the crash site and took photographs.

Airways Corporation Supported

The Auditor General, Jeff Chapman, has backed the board of the Airways Corporation in its controversial awarding of a $NZ13m contract to an Australian bidder in 1990.

In areport to the Government, Mr Chapman says the board’s judgment could not be questioned, even though a parliamentary inquiry found a rival New Zealand based tender was cheaper, reports the New Zealand Herald.

The 20 month investigation by the transport select committee concluded the state owned enterprise made errors of judgment in evaluating tenders and gave ‘preferential treat ment’ to the winner. Two senior Airways Corporation executives involved in the tender process, Mr Frank Baldwin and Dr Rob Edwards, subsequently joined the successful bidder.

Both men were later embroiled in an Australian inquiry over the negotiating of a $NZ400m contract for Australia’s airways system.

Rnzaf Jet Simulator

The Royal New Zealand Air Force has taken delivery of a $NZ10. 5m simulator as part of a $NZ266m package to supply the air force with 18 Italian built Macchi MB-339 jet trainers. The simulator, at the Ohakea air base (lower North Island), was equivalent in cost to a Macchi jet yet did the work of up to four Macchis for a fraction of the operat ing costs, says NZ Minister of Defence, Warren Cooper.

Briefs

• Another Air New Zealand aircraft has been leased to a foreign operator. One of the company’s eight 747s is being used by the British based carrier Virgin Atlantic (refer Traffic Aug 93 AA). The 747-200 was previously leased to Malaysia Airlines, while the Virgin Atlantic lease is for 14 weeks. Air New Zealand also leased another aircraft to the Indonesian airline Garuda for HAJ flights to Mecca.

• Continental has just suspended two New Zealand services for several months to allow for fleet upgrading and maintenance. The two services-one Sydney/Auckland return and a LA/Auckland/Melbourne link-resume next June.

Six Vietnamese air traffic controllers have just completed a five week English language training course at the Airways Corporation Christchurch training centre. The first ATCs from Vietnam to be trained in New Zealand, their training was funded by the Ministry of External Relations and Trade as part of an aid programme.