New Zealand News

The move was recommended by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission in a report on a helicopter crash near Hokitika, on the South Island west coast last December. The pilot and two passengers were seriously injured after the Hughes 269 helicopter struck power lines 6. 6m above a road. In its report the commission said police officers who made inquiries at the scene believed it necessary to determine whether the pilot had been affected by alcohol. However, they had no authority to request a breath test or blood sample, whilst a later investigation indicated the Civil Aviation Authority also had no jurisdiction.

The accident inspectors’ report said the group in the helicopter crash had visited two rural hotels on the afternoon of the accident; the pilot said he had not consumed any alcohol. The CAA’s manager of policy and standards development, Owen Batcherlor, said the case had raised a previously untested question of breath and blood tests for pilots.

In its findings, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission said it was not possible to reconcile the evidence of witnesses with statements of the pilot.

Aviation Firms Sues Over “Rusty” Aircraft

New Zealand’s top aviation official is cited as first defendant in a negligence suit after an airworthiness certificate was approved for a passenger aircraft claimed to be so corroded it cannot be flown.

Vincent Aviation of Wellington has specified the Civil Aviation Authority director as first defendant in a suit which seeks almost $NZ1m in damages, reports the Wellington Evening Post.

According to the newspaper report, Vincent Aviation took possession of the four engined Riley Heron aircraft from Air Rarotonga after the certificate was granted. It is also suing Air Rarotonga and a company, run by aircraft broker Dennis Thompson, which acted as Air Rarotonga’s agent in the sale. Vincent Aviation engineers were said to be so concerned about the state of the 15 seat aircraft they believed an accident was inevitable. All three defendants have filed statements of defence with the High Court, a date for the hearing has yet to be set. The CAA is the government agency responsible for safety rules and policy. The Riley Heron was New Zealand registered.

The director’s position is currently held by Kevin Ward. The CAA’s lawyer, Todd Foster, has said the action against Mr Ward was not personal – rather it was action against the position of CAA director. Mr Ward was not director at the time of the aircraft sale.

Vincent Aviation says it took delivery of the Riley Heron after a CAA official went to the Cook Islands and approved the airworthiness certificate. The aircraft, planned for charter flights, arrived in this country in February last year. An engineering check, said the Evening Post, revealed serious corrosion.

After the corrosion was found, Vincent Aviation says it tried to take the aircraft to Tasmania for repairs. But the CAA inspected it again and refused to allow the flight – the aircraft’s condition was considered too poor. According to engineers, the aircraft is now not worth repairing. Vincent Aviation claims it has lost $NZ869,359 through loss of business and the $NZ260,000 purchase price of the aircraft.

Vincent Aviation says it was “a fluke” that no passengers flew in the Riley Heron after arriving in this country. Managing director Peter Vincent said an engineer who inspected the aircraft said it was not a matter ofif but when the Heron would have an accident.

Vincent Aviation lists almost three pages of alleged damage to the aircraft in its statement of claim. Two company engineers refer to “gross” corrosion of sections of the main spar booms and “gross” corrosion of part of the upper fuselage. There was also heavy corrosion of the main landing gear.

Aviation Safety Group Worried

The number of airline passengers who carry dangerous goods in their baggage is worrying an aviation safety group. Petrol, gas bottles and fireworks were among the items detected in passenger baggage at airports here, says the New Zealand Dangerous Goods Air Transport Council. There are no figures about such incidents but the council members say they happened often enough to cause concern. Australian model. It has representatives of the major airlines, Formed last March, the group is based on a successful the air force, air freight firms and New Zealand Post.

Council chairman Norman Hogwood says passenger ignorance of regulations, rather than evasion, was the main cause of the problem. Among examples of passengers who ignored dangerous goods warnings at New Zealand airports, he said, brushes in inflammable spirits. The potential hazard was was a man who attempted to check-in a box containing paint discovered only when the liquid spilled as airline staff carried the box to the aircraft.

Other “typical” examples included a passenger found to be carrying ships’ emergency flares in his baggage and incidents involving fireworks brought from Asia in personal luggage.

Crash Beacons Wanted on Ice

All aircraft operating in Antarctica should be fitted with crash activated locater beacons says the New Zealand Antarctic Programme’s director, Gillian Wratt.

The recommendation comes after three men – two from Christchurch who were working for the New Zealand Antaretic Programme and an American were killed when their helicopter crashed near Cape Bird, Ross Island, in October last year. The lack of a crash activated beacon in the United States Navy Bell HH-IN helicopter delayed the search.

Gillian Wratt said meetings of the New Zealand-United States search and rescue committee after the accident drew up a list of improvements. At the Christchurch inquest into the three deaths, a coroner was told that pilot error was the most likely cause of the helicopter crash.

The senior New Zealand representative for the Antarctic Programme at the time, David Comber, told the court he agreed with the findings of a US Navy inquiry into the accident. This said the cause was the pilot’s decision to continue flying in poor visibility and then to turn towards rising terrain. The helicopter crashed down a 25m ice cliff after striking the ground.

Airport Alert Over Boeing 737

Just over 100 passengers aboard an Air New Zealand 737 assumed the emergency brace position as the aircraft prepared to land after circling near Wellington for 45 minutes following a fault in the nose wheel landing gear.

After a safe landing, an officer of one emergency service said the plane could have pitched forward at any time during the landing – the nose wheel had not been locked into position. The captain of the flight had used the mechanical emergency backup system to operate the landing gear.

The 737 was back in service about a day later following work at the airline’s 737 engineering base, Christchurch airport. Air New Zealand said the landing gear problem would be the subject of “further assessment” by the airline. Boeing also assisted with the inquiry and New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority is looking into the matter.

Passenger Guilty of Assaulting Pilot

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in this country, a High Court jury has returned a guilty verdict on a charge brought under the Aviation Crimes Act, 1972.

Craig James Whiteman, 21, pleaded not guilty at Palmerston North (lower North Is. ) to assaulting pilot Steve Oliver and thereby likely to endanger the safety of the aircraft.

Whiteman, the jury was told, grabbed the pilot’s arm three times to attract his attention. He also removed the pilot’s headset and knocked his glasses askew.

“Whiteman was making it plain he wanted to be dropped off at Shannon, where he lived,” said the Crown prosecutor. The helicopter was also carrying a man who had been injured in a stabbing incident, two ambulance officers and a police officer.

The injured man, a friend of Whiteman’s helped the other passengers restrain the man who wanted to be dropped off at his home town. Whiteman’ lawyer said his client had been influenced by drink and drugs.

In the Wellington High Court Justice Doogue said Whiteman would be sentenced in mid December, the day he leaves jail after serving a burglary sentence.

Brief

• Ansett New Zealand is facing legal action over its refusal to allow some workers a paid day off in lieu of a statutory holiday worked.

The national secretary of the Engineers’ Union says the union filed a dispute with the Employment Tribunal on the instructions of 57 aviation engineers employed at the Ansett engineering base, Christchurch.

• Air New Zealand says twice weekly 767 flights between Auckland and South Korea would start in November. More than 18,000 Koreans visited New Zealand in the 12 months to June even though there were no direct air services.

Air New Zealand next month (November) launches two extra return flights linking Wellington and Sydney, on top of the seven a week it shares with Qantas. An increase in continental European visitors to New Zealand has prompted Air New Zealand to begin a third weekly flight to Frankfurt and London from November. The airline says German visitors have risen 27% in the last year.

• Air New Zealand 737s now serve a second international airport in NSW – Coffs Harbour.

• The Inbound Tourism Organisation Council has given Air New Zealand its Operator of the Year award. Michael Weiderman, the council president, says the award recognises the airline’s development of a new marketing strategy focusing on inbound travel to New Zealand and the southwest Pacific.