Vital Spares: flown in by 'rebel' DC10

Press, 2 March 1981, Page 1

Vital Spares : flown in by 'rebel' DC10

By

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor 1

An Air New Zealand DCIO quietly slipped the shackles of the union ban at Auckland Airport yesterday and. .flew to Christchurch with a technical crew and spare parts for another DCIO grounded there by a mechanical fault. . ' ?■'/./ , . ' Those on -board are; probably the only .'people who know how ■ the aircraft'left an airport supposedly .closed by union pressure to all , Air. New Zealand planes. “Honestly,, we .-.cannot comment: we just do not know, how it got away,” said the airline’s director of public affairs, Mr. D. C. Saxton’, ■ after checking in response to questions - who had, authorised the flight and whether -union dispensation ; • had. ' been sought.' . , Ho wev e r . reliable

sources said last evening that the flight -had embarrassed the airline’s management and had incensed union officials. Nobody in the know is letting on how they pulled off the coup. But one thing is certain: they won Hie gratitude of hundreds of passengers stranded at Christchurch Airport. Had that plane not arrived with vital spares, no Air New Zealand ; aircraft would have left for overseas yesterday.' ' '. ' ' The ■ ordeal' of ■ 270 passengers ~on,. Flight TEI7S to Sydney began when they boarded their DCIO, Sierra,, at 11 'a.m.' A mechanical fault was found/ and everybody reluctantly left the aircraft and were held in the, transit lounge while engineers probed Sierra’s tail. A new stabiliser unit was needed but such ; spares were kept in Auckland. - At " I p.m. an announce-

meat was /made -.that TEI7S had been cancelled.. The groans of .despair had barely subsided, when a further announcement a minute or two later' advised that TEI7S had only been delayed, indefinitely.' Then the passengers were told they would be allowed back on board the aircraft for lunch. By 3 p.m. ' they were in the; transit lounge again, still uncertain as to whether’ their flight would take off. Another hour Burned to two until, like an angel of mercy, ~ - the Auckland DCIO, Tango, appeared on the tarmac. Everybody cheered. “Those blokes deserve a bloody medal,” sa'id. a stranded Australian jour-, nalist with feeling. While the fault in the grounded DCIO was being remedied, the new.arrival, was quickly refuelled and prepared to take over the flight to Sydney. It took off at 6.30 p.m. with less than two minutes to spare before the flight’s allowable crew time expired. Work on the. other DC 10 was completed later in the evening and it took off shortly before 11 p.m. with 160 passengers, for Nandi, Honolulu- and Los Angeles. A -full (150 passengers) Ansett Boeing 727 also left ‘last evening for Hobart. T.A.A. had a similar flight planned for early today. , , Air New Zealand is planning to make two flights from Christchurch to Sydney today. The first, TEI7S will leave at 10 a.m., one hour ahead of its scheduled departure time, IT a.m. The other, TE1175, will leave about 7 p.m.. A decision will’also be made this morning on the possible use of Air Force planes to help clear the backlog of passengers from Christchurch. .Domestic services to, through, and from Auck-. land, Hamilton, and Rotorua will again be thrown into chaos with the cancellation of all flights involving those airports until at least 3 p.m. Yesterday 53 flights, including five from Christchurch, , had .to be cancelled.

Air New Zealand reported last evening that it was almost impossible to get seats today or tomorrow on flights ' still leaving Christchurch. Wednesday’s bookings are heavier than usual, but the situation is easier for later in -the week, week. ■ All -flights to Sydney :and Melbourne are fully booked as far ahead as March 12.- :•/*■-/- / The number of passengers waiting for flights across; i the Tasman? is j apparently hard to; calculate’; /because of double’ 1 bookings and the tendency for .some travellers to drift north to Wellington and Auckland in the hope of picking up flights there. A rough estimate, however, is about 800./" / - More than a hundred, people slept at the airport last night. Many had mattresses and blankets supplied by the Army and food/-provided by local residents. One man gave five cases of fruit to Air New Zealand for distribution to the stranded. , The./departure of Flight TEIOO4 to Nandi, Honolulu,/and Lbs Angeles has cleared 7 the backlog of American ■: travellers. A further-flight from North America is ■ ; expected to land with a full load of 270 passengers about 11 a.m. A, DCB flight / from Brisbane is also expected late tonight. ; All Qantas flights to New . Zealand scheduled, for today have been cancelled as the Australian dispute enters its third week. Further talks -'Will be held- in Sydney today, but there is still no clear signs of an early settlement. 'f Pressure on Christchurch’s tourist hotels eased slightly yesterday after/several flights left the city,’ taking with them some of the stranded Australian and American tourists'. . Last week some hotels had been accommodating solo' travellers .'four to a room so that| they ' could: have a bed for ’ the' night and airline staff-had . been billeted as far away as Ashburton. S ; ;