Board may seek court hearing

Press, 29 April 1981, Page 3

Board may seek court hearing

PA Wellington Air New Zealand's board of directors may seek an urgent High Court hearing in a bid to set aside the Royal Commission finding that there was a cover-up and false evidence after the Mount Erebus DCIO disaster. The board has described as “extravagant” the finding by the Commissioner, Mr Justice Mahon, that there had been a “litany of lies” and a predetermined cover-up after the crash on November 28, 1979, when all 257 passengers and crew on board died when the airliner slammed into the side of the Antarctic mountain.

The allegations had • not been put to those concerned or substantiated by evidence, said the airline’s board in a statement issued after a meeting on Monday evening. “These are grave deficiencies.” It has instructed counsel to advise, “with a view to the urgent issue of proceedings in the High Court, to review and set aside these allegations.” The board will also hire an independent firm of consult-

ants to investigate and report on whether administrative deficiencies exist in the flight operations division of the airline. The report is a matter of urgency, and will be made available to the Ministry of Transport. The board also said that it would consider disciplinary procedures in respect of employees where findiings had been made against them in regard to the performance of their duties.

The tragedy of Mount Erebus and the .contribution found to have been made to it by certain employees were deeply regretted, the board said.

It maintained that the accident was “a million-tb-one chance,” and it reaffirmed its faith in the honesty and integrity of the men who serve the company. The disaster was caused mainly by the airline’s changing the computer track of the aircraft without telling the captain or crew, Mr Justice Mahon said in his report. The change in course sent the aircraft on a course aimed at Mount Erebus, a

12,450 ft active volcano on Ross Island. His Honour exonerated the captain and crew, and placed responsibilty for the overriding cause on “incompetent administrative airline procedures.” He condemned the stance adopted by Air New Zealand during the commission’s proceedings, and said that there was a “concerted attempt to conceal a series of disastrous administrative blunders.” His Honour said that the airline’s chief executive, Mr M. R. Davis, was “able and evidently autocratic.” Mr Davis had instructed staff to put “irrelevant” documents in a shredder. Mr Davis was anxious to avoid early and adverse publicity which would place prime responsibility for the disaster upon the airline’s management procedures. “This direction on the part of the chief executive for the destruction of ‘irrelevant documents’ was one of the most remarkable executive decisions ever to have been made in the corporate affairs of a big New Zealand company,” said His Honour.