Coroner’s finding accepted by family
THE family of an experienced helicopter pilot who died when the Hughes 500 he was flying crashed in the Glade Valley on his 49th birthday say the coroner’s finding is ‘‘as close to the truth as we are ever going to get’’.
Yesterday Coroner Brigitte Windley released her findings into the death of William Bruce Roberts, of Te Anau, who died on December 15, 2013.
While the Civil Aviation Authority found it ‘‘likely’’ he inadvertently flew into cloud, became spatially disoriented and had a controlled flight into terrain, his family had always doubted that.
Ms Windley said it was ‘‘impossible’’ to determine the exact cause, but evidence suggested he collided with terrain when he lost situational awareness due to a ‘‘distracting medical or visual occurrence, and/or inadvertent entry into cloud’’
At the time of the crash he was returning from Rat Point, near Queenstown, where he dropped off four passengers, to Milford.
During a fourday inquest in Queenstown last November Ms Windley heard he had complained that day of ‘‘strange’’ leg pain, possibility attributed to deep vein thrombosis, and in the days prior he had mentioned issues with his vision, possibly caused by the deterioration of eye conditions diagnosed a year earlier.
. While she did not consider CAA’s position ‘‘implausible’’ she did not share its confidence as to the cause.
Brother Robert Andrews said the family ‘‘wholeheartedly’’ accepted her findings.
‘‘All we ever wanted for them [the CAA] to say was ‘he could have flown into cloud; it could have been medical; it could have been mechanical, we simply don’t know’ . . . because that’s the actual truth of the matter.’’
Ms Windley said the authority had not obtained Mr Andrews’ medical records from GP Dr Stephen Hoskin as part of its investigation and had not been notified of his diagnosed eye conditions by Dr Hoskin, the optometrist or Mr Andrews.
Dr Hoskin had ‘‘no recollection’’ of ever being informed of his obligation to report changes in pilots’ health which may be of aeromedical significance to the CAA and questioned three colleagues who were also unaware.
Ms Windley said there was a gap in reporting obligations under the Act, because optometrists were not defined as ‘‘medical practitioners’’ required to report to the CAA, which was ‘‘potentially of concern’’.
Her recommendations included that being addressed ‘‘as a matter of priority’’ and for pilots to receive ready access to information and education on their obligations to notify the authority.
Robert Andrews said he hoped the findings would be taken on board by the CAA and the aviation industry so ‘‘Bruce’s death was not in vain’’.
‘‘I would like to think that CAA would take a more collaborative approach with the industry.
‘‘In Bruce’s case, specifically around the medical issues, personally, I don’t think he should have been flying.
‘‘There could have been four other people in that helicopter. ‘‘That’s the scary thing.’’
The CAA said in a statement it was mindful of the tragedy associated with any death in the aviation community and it respected her report and findings.
A request for an update on the coroner’s recommendations has been processed by the CAA under the Official Information Act.