Air N.Z. pilots will continue action

Press, 13 March 1986, Page 8

Air N.Z. pilots will continue action

PA Auckland Air New Zealand pilots said yesterday they would continue industrial action, in spite a Civil Aviation report saying there was no justification for a pilot’s refusal to fly a Boeing 747 at Auckland Airport last week. In releasing the report on the incident — in which 400 passengers had to sleep at the airport overnight — the Minister of Transport, Mr Prebble, said he had asked the pilots to negotiate their grievances with the airline and stop their industrial action.

The report, requested

by Mr Prebble, said there was no reason why the aircraft could not have flown on schedule.

The 747 captain refused to fly the aircraft to Los Angeles early this month because it had a defective thrust reverser.

However, the Director of Civil Aviation, Air Commodore Stuart Mclntyre, said in the report that the aircraft could have flown safely without it.

Reversers were not required on long runways, he said.

The chairman of the Air New Zealand Pilots’ Council, Captain Jerry Rees-Webbe, said the re-

port was no surprise. He agreed that the delay in the March 3 incident was “industrially inspired,” but said pilots had been under a lot of pressure to fly with deferred maintenance.

“It is perfectly safe to drive a car without a handbrake, but if your foot brakes fail you have problems,” he said. Captain Rees-Webbe said the pilots saw no reason to lift their industrial action at this stage, since no progress - had been made in negotiations with the airline. Members would consider the position at stop-work meetings on Monday.