Pilots ‘plunged in the deep end’

Press, 24 September 1988, Page 4

Pilots ‘plunged in the deep end’

PA ' Wellington Third-level airlines generally had New Zealand’s least experienced pilots yet they were expected to do the most difficult flying, the court of inquiry into the Skyferry air accident has been told.

Inexperienced pilots were “plunged straight in the deep end” with the most difficult job of all, which was flying instrument flight rules (1.F.R.) on single-engined aircraft, an inspector of air accidents, Mr Dmitri Zotov, said. He was giving evidence yesterday on the twelfth day of the inquiry into last November’s Skyferry aircraft accident which killed its pilot, Mr Brent Odering, and a Skyferry employee, Ms Kathryn Sproull. The court was told earlier in the inquiry that often when the third-level pilots had gained experience they moved to bigger airlines. Under questioning Mr Zotov suggested one possibility of stopping big airlines, such as Air New Zealand, taking pilots from third-level airlines would be for them to have to train their own pilots. Mr Zotov made the preliminary investigation into the accident off the Kaikoura coast. His study has been suppressed by the court. Under cross-examina-tion from Mr John Billington, representing the Minister of Civil Aviation and the Civil Aviation Division, Mr Zotov was asked whether it would have been better if he had checked the opinion he wrote in his preliminary study with the people or organisations affected. Mr Zotov replied he did not think it would have been appropriate, bearing

m mina mat tne competence of C.A.D. was being called into question. Civil Aviation’s director, Commodore Stuart Mclntyre, said the Skyferry accident was a straightforward accident that should not have occurred. He referred to the accident in his written evidence as the pilot failing to take remedial action when encountering unexpected icing conditions. He said Skyferry had received close attention from C.A.D. and had met the required standards. Answering questions from a District Court Judge, Mr David Carruthers, Mr Mclntyre agreed with earlier evidence that the relationship between his office and that of the office of air accidents was unsatisfactory. Mr Mclntyre said the two offices should be working together at a much earlier stage in accident investigations. It would be constructive if C.A.D. could be involved with the investigation as soon as something of importance from a safety point of view was found. In his evidence in chief, Mr Mclntyre said he considered Mr Odering’s flight was not into known icing conditions. “I cannot accept the comment that because icing could be encountered on the route the service should not have been approved without the aircraft carrying adequate de-icing equipment.”