Engine failure ruled likely cause of crash

WELLINGTON: The coroner has ruled the plane crash that killed 2degrees boss Eric Hertz and his wife Katherine was accidental, due to engine failure, and Mr Hertz’s taking of antidepressant medication was not a conclusive factor.

Mr Hertz and his wife took off in his Beechcraft Baron aircraft from Ardmore Aerodrome in Auckland on March 30, 2013, bound for Timaru.

However, about 30 minutes into their flight, the aircraft ‘‘departed from controlled flight and entered a spin from which it did not recover’’, crashing into the sea near Raglan, according to coroner Gordon Matenga’s findings, issued yesterday.

The bodies of Mr and Mrs Hertz were recovered by Navy divers a week later. Their injuries were fatal on impact, Mr Matenga ruled.

He said the aircraft decreased airspeed to a point where control was lost because the left engine failed, ‘‘but no findings can be made as to the cause of the failure’’.

A problem was noted in the engine’s turbocharger early in 2013, but this was replaced under manufacturer’s warranty — it was tested and did show some distortion, but was running as it should.

Mr Hertz lost situational awareness and became disoriented because he was in cloud after the engine failed, Mr Matenga said.

While it was revealed at the inquest in Hamilton last year that Mr Hertz had not told doctors in New Zealand or the United States that he was taking medication for an anxiety disorder, Mr Matenga said there was insufficient evi dence to find this was a factor in the accident.

A toxicology report showed the presence of alcohol in Mr Hertz’s body, but it was taken from a decomposing body and ‘‘it is unsafe to attribute any significance to the level [found]’’, along with Duloxetine, an antidepressant drug.

Mr Matenga ruled the discovery of the drug was surprising as medication would have affected Mr Hertz’s ability to hold a pilot’s licence, but the loss of power in the left engine was more conclusive. — NZN