Ongoing concern over investigations
Several New Zealand pilots and aviation experts have claimed investigations into the country’s air accidents are often inadequate and lack independence.
Their comments are included in a new book looking into a 1967 plane crash, which raised serious issues about the ensuing investigation. The experts say such issues are still being experienced today.
Well-known aviation historian Richard Waugh wrote Shot Over into the Shotover after learning his father Brian, the pilot in the 1967 crash near Queenstown, had raised concerns about the subsequent investigation.
Brian Waugh, an experienced pilot and engineer, was forced to land a Dominie plane in the Shotover River after overshooting the Queenstown Airport runway due to engine failure. The plane plunged nose-first into the river and flipped. The two American passengers suffered minor injuries, but Waugh suffered a severe ankle injury and his pilot’s licence was never renewed.
The plane’s engines and other useable parts were recovered from the riverbed the morning after the crash. The remaining parts were burned later that day.
A major failure of the port engine was noted, but assistant chief inspector of accidents EF Harvie ultimately concluded Waugh should have been able to land with one engine and said ‘‘the accident was the result of a badly misjudged approach’’.
Almost a year later, Waugh was working in the office for NZ Tourist Air Travel (TAT) – the company that owned the plane – and stumbled across the starboard engine being dismantled and reconditioned. The mechanic showed him loose exhaust valve seats. Waugh had earlier raised concerns about the starboard engine with investigators and wrote to the Department of Civil Aviation asking for its report.
The department said it had relied on TAT to say if any issues were found with the engine. As no problems were reported, it was assumed there were no issues.
In 1969, Waugh made a claim for $26,000 against Mount Cook Airlines, TAT’s new owners, alleging negligent engineering work. The case was settled out of court in Waugh’s favour.
He also took his complaints about the inves- tigation to the Ombuds- man, who expressed concerns over the plane’s early destruction, the fact investigators left it to the company to examine the starboard engine, and their failure to undertake the examination until pressed by Waugh.
Waugh died in 1984, but modern aviation experts say similar issues still surround air accident investigations.
Richard Waugh said he was ‘‘taken aback’’ at the responses he received from the six experts whose opinion he sought. Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) chef investigator Tim Burfoot defended his agency, which is now responsible for major accident investigations in New Zealand, but the other five experts were critical.
‘‘They’re saying there’s still a way to go for New Zealand to have best practices and a certain level of independence in air accident investigation,’’ Waugh said.
Burfoot said advances in travel and technology meant much more information was available to investigators now. TAIC was an independent agency and could consider wider issues. It operated to international standards and undertook ongoing staff training, he said. Former pilot and published author Barry Cardno said he was concerned with the secrecy surrounding TAIC investigations.
In Waugh’s book, he claimed TAIC focused on Cardno’s error of judgement when he was the pilot in a topdressing plane crash as a 21-year-old, instead of looking at his employer’s poor safety culture and the five crashes the company had been involved in within two years.
Retired pilot Chris Payne said the names, people and structures involved in such investigations had changed, but he feared it had ‘‘not resulted in significant improvements’’.
New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association president Tim Robinson was concerned that while TAIC was set up as the country’s ‘‘independent’’ investigator, it investigated only a ‘‘fraction’’ of accidents.
Instead industry body the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) investigated most accidents and was the enforcer and prosecutor for all accidents.
The Queenstown-based owner of Air Milford, Hank Sproull, said in his experience, investigations by the CAA or TAIC had been poorly delivered, causing distress to families who had lost loved ones.
He cited a 2010 case where a skydiving plane crashed during take-off from the Fox Glacier Aerodrome. All nine people on board died. An independent review of the initial TAIC investigation found it lacked resources and handled evidence poorly.
‘‘There are many more [incidents] that have not been assessed to an acceptable standard. We still have something to learn from examples like the Shotover River and Fox Glacier accidents,’’ Sproull said.
Waugh, who has authored or coauthored 12 aviation books, has also been pushing for a national memorial to the 257 victims of the 1979 Erebus crash.
The contradictory investigations that followed that crash ensured it remained one of the world’s most controversial air accidents, he said.
‘‘Today we have an extremely safe airline service in New Zealand, but is has come with a human cost along the way.
‘‘They deserve to have a place and a name.’’
Shot Over into the Shotover, by Rev Richard Waugh, is available from Craigs Design and Print.