By Dylan Moran and Dan Satherley
The son of one of the victims of the 2010 Fox Glacier plane crash says the release of a coroner's report into the tragedy has given the family some closure.
Jake Miller, son of Skydive New Zealand director Rodney Miller, who died in the crash, says coroner Richard McElrea did a better job of investigating it than the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC).
"We think in many ways the coroner actually did the job that TAIC should have done," Mr Miller said on Firstline this morning.
"We feel like [the coroner] investigated it more thoroughly, and we feel like his findings are a lot more plausible than TAIC's ever were.
"It's definitely provided some closure for us because that initial report was quite hard. We really did not agree with it. We thought the TAIC report was just absolute… we just didn't agree with it, so it's quite nice to read this report now that actually suggests something quite plausible."
Nine people died when a Walter Fletcher FU24 airplane, operated by SkyDive NZ, crashed at the end of the runway at Fox Glacier airport on September 4, 2010. Four tourists and five locals – including four master skydivers and the plane's pilot – were killed instantly.
A TAIC inquiry in August 2012 found the plane had exceeded its maximum takeoff weight – a likely factor in the crash.
However, in his findings released today, Mr McElrea said the events leading to the deaths are ultimately a mystery.
"It is unlikely that the cause of the crash will ever be fully understood. Something unusual, such as inadvertent pilot error or engine malfunction/mechanical failure, has occurred at take-off," he says.
Mr Miller says the TAIC report was flawed as parts of the wreckage were buried in the days following the crash.
"The original investigator and the team there, they had gone to the crash site straight after the accident obviously, and basically what happened is they actually ordered for some evidence to be buried, of that original wreckage, only about three days after the crash occurred," says Mr Miller.
"We find it very hard to understand how they can draw conclusions when some of this wreckage was buried, which we believed could have been instrumental to finding what actually caused this accident… keeping in mind that thousands of other flights have happened in the past with loads of similar weight and balance – nothing had happened in the past like this, so we think that saying straight weight and balance caused the accident was a very, very extreme path to take."
Industry standard at the time of the crash was to use estimated weights of passengers, rather than weighing each individual. Skydive NZ used an estimate of 70kg per person. However, anyone who appeared visibly over 70kg was weighed.
"Weight and balance issues in themselves cannot be ruled out as causative of the dangerously nose-high attitude of the aircraft at takeoff, but it is likely that some other factor has also occurred," notes Mr McElrae.
Civil Aviation rule 91.207 requires passengers in can aircraft to be in a seat and restrained during takeoff and landing – but parachute operators are exempt from this law.
Mr Miller says mandatory restraints on takeoff are a good idea.
"Although we personally do not believe that a load shift would have significantly occurred on that takeoff, because… there's a lack of space in those aircraft with eight people stacked in the back, so we don't think a massive load shift would have occurred.
"However the recommendation of the restraints is quite a good one, considering the fact that the aircraft isn't always stacked that tightly, so that people could move on slightly lesser-stacked planes."
A variety of causes for the crash have been suggested, including something in the cabin lodging itself in the controls, a stabilator set at an incorrect angle and an overweight capacity.
Tests carried out on other aircraft showed it was able to be controlled with the stabilator and overweight issues – though the issue of shifting weight was not tested.
"The coroner's not a specific aviation expert, but it was quite commendable the way that he actually listened to these expert witnesses at his inquest, and took all of those into consideration," says Mr Miller.
"Obviously we're never going to know the cause of the accident, especially considering the burying of some of that evidence. However, he suggested a number of possible reasons why the plane might have initially nosed-up, and we think that his report's quite good."
Pilot Chaminda Senadhira was said to be relatively inexperienced at flying an FU24, having logged only 41 hours of flight time in the aircraft. The coroner's report does not absolve the 33-year-old of blame.
"Inadvertent pilot error in the takeoff could explain the crash," says Mr McElrae.
Mr McElrae said toxicology reports which found cannabis in the system of two of the instructors fell outside the scope of his investigation as they "would not have contributed to the outcome".
The TAIC has recommended an alcohol and drug testing regime be initiated in the industry, and the Civil Aviation Authority now requires weight and balance calculations to use actual weights.
Those killed in the crash were Skydive New Zealand dive-masters Adam Bennett – a 47-year-old Australian who had been living in Motueka, Michael Suter, 32, from New Plymouth, Christopher McDonald, 62, from Mapua and Rodney Miller, 55, from Greymouth.
The four tourists who died were Patrick Byrne, 26, of Ireland, Glenn Bourke, 18, of Australia, Annita Kirsten, 23 from Germany and Brad Coker, 24, from England.
3 News
source: newshub archive
