Sir Rochford endorsed

Press, 4 February 1982, Page 1

Sir Rochford endorsed

Wellington reporter The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) said yesterday that he was in very close agreement with a good deal of the comment by Air Marshal Sir Rochford Hughes, on the Mount Erebus crash. Sir Rochford said on Monday that the crew of ’ the DCIO had to accept some responsibility' for the disaster, and that blame could probably be apportioned 90

per cent to the airline, and 10 per cent to the pilots. He made the comments after the Commission of In-

quiry. Judge Mahon, suggested on a radio interview earlier this week that the report’s technical findings were backed by the Air Marshal, technical consultant to the commission.

Although he would not put a percentage on culpability of the airline or the pilots, Mr Muldoon said he was “certainly in accord with the Air Marshal’s analysis of the situation.” “It has been said in aviation circles that pilot responsibility might be as high as 15 per cent,” he said. Sir Rochford had put a “rather better” interpretation on evidence of witnesses for the airline. Instead of calling it an “orchestrated litany of lies,” Sir Rochford had said that after the lapse of time between the accident and the hearing, some witnesses conditioned by the impact of evidence on themselves, may well have thought they were saying what was true, Mr Muldoon said.

But a claim that the evidence was orchestrated was to lay a charge of conspiracy. and Judge Mahon had failed to back the charge by naming the offenders.

Mr Muldoon said he was pleased the report exonerated the pilots from the greater share of the blame, but any reasonable person had to accept that the pilots should not have descended relying on instruments alone. This was the opinion of Sir Rochford, and it was close to that of the Chief Inspector of Air Accidents (Mr R. Chippindale), said Mr Muldoon. The Attorney-General (Mr McLay) said on Tuesday that two assessors assisting a judge at a major accident inquiry could pose problems. Sir Rochford Hughes had said that two experienced airmen would have proved valuable in assisting Judge Mahon at the Mount Erebus inquiry. "At future inquiries we will obviously have to consider this,” said Mr McLay. Sir Rochford, who has sat as an assessor at British inquiries, said the worst aspect of the Erebus inquiry was the delay in setting it up after the crash. It should have been set up within four or five weeks, and before a report by the Chief Inspector of Air Accidents was released, he said. The inquiry would have functioned better if the Chippindale investigations had been first placed before it, and then used as a factor in aiding the inquiry to come to its final conclusion. Sir Rochford said he agreed with the great bulk of the Mahon Report. The only point he was not fully in agreement with was its complete elimination of all pilot blame. Chippindale report, Page 13.