Coroner wants pilot health disclosed

A coroner has gone further than recommendations made after the Lochy River investigation into the deaths of a helicopter instructor and his student in 2015. After the release of findings into the deaths of 2degrees boss Eric Hertz and his wife Kathy in a plane crash in 2013, Coroner Gordon Matenga has recommended changes to the way pilots apply for medical certificates as part of their pilot’s licence. He wants GPs to fill out part of the application so pilots cannot withhold critical health details that may prevent them obtaining a licence, after it was found Eric Hertz did not disclose that he was taking medication for a mental illness.

In what became known as the Lochy River investigation by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, similar concerns were raised when it was discovered the pilot of a Robinson R44 helicopter that crashed near Queenstown in February 2015 had mental health issues the year before.

It was later found pilot Stephen Anthony Nicholson Combe, 42, who died in the crash in the Lochy River Valley with James Louis PattersonGardner, 18, was medically fit to fly and the crash was caused when the rotor blade struck the cabin.

The TAIC investigation found there were too many ways for a pilot to circumvent the Civil Aviation Authority process designed to prevent pilots flying if they are not medically fit to.

Further, there was a low awareness among doctors of their duty to report to CAA if they became aware a pilot had developed a medical condition that would otherwise render them unfit to fly.

Recommendations from TAIC, with input from CAA, included:

The director of civil aviation improve the mechanisms for telling doctors of the requirements to report to CAA;

The director review the medical application process to ensure it identifies potentially serious health issues with pilots;

That a national electronic health record database be able to add a person’s occupation.