Air crash pilot New Zealander

Press, 20 December 1988, Page 6

Air crash pilot New Zealander

NZPA Sydney The former Royal New Zealand Air Force officer, Kevin Fitzmaurice, was named yesterday as the pilot of a turboprop plane that crashed in Western Australia on Friday with the loss of all on board.

Captain Fitzmaurice, formerly of Christchurch, and nine passengers died when the twin-engined Mitsubishi MU2 aircraft, owned by Perth-based Broughton Air Services, dived to the ground about 300 km north of Kalgoorlie.

Mr Max Broughton, the managing director of the airline’s parent company Broughton, Broughton and Company, said Captain Fitzmaurice had been employed as the pilot of the company’s corporate aircraft in 1985, but moved on to marketing. Mr Broughton said many clients specifically asked for Captain Fitzmaurice to be their pilot because of his experience and personality. “Everyone got on with Kevin,” Mr Broughton

said. He said Captain Fitzmaurice moved to Australia soon after completing his training with the R.N.Z.A.F. about 18 years ago. He leaves a wife, Deborah, also from New Zealand, and two children aged two and four. The cause of the crash, Australia’s worst for eight years, is still being investigated.

Two directors and the secretary of the mining company, Independent Resources, which chartered the plane, were among the dead. They were Max Greenham, Geoff Bayly and Susan Kahl, respectively. The police named others on the flight list as being Paul Wilson, Susan Barr, Julie Saw, Di Howell, Susan Africano and Trish Doohan. The Civil Aviation Authority has rejected calls for Australia’s remaining MU2s to be grounded, after reports that the plane had been involved in 43 fatal crashes worldwide.