“At this stage it would be premature to speculate on what the cause might be,” McKeen said,
“After any incident or accident NZALPA’s goal is always to understand the learnings that may come out of the investigation to help prevent the same incident or accident happening again.
“Taking the time to gather all the facts and analysing all relevant information has assisted aviation in becoming one of the safest forms of transportation in the world.”
International Air Transport Assocation figures showed flying continued to get safer last year; it says that on average a person would have to travel by air every day for 103,239 years to experience a fatal accident.
Christchurch Airport communications advisor Jo Scott said the runway has now been carefully inspected and cleaned.
“The Transport Accident Investigation Commission has cleared its reopening,” Scott said.
The terminal is now open, and the airport is operating as normal.
“The Civil Aviation Authority is aware of the incident that occurred at Christchurch Airport and is making initial inquiries into the event,” a CAA spokesperson said.
A Jetstar spokesperson said a steering issue caused the incident.
“There are no injuries to passengers or crew. The aircraft was towed to the gate and all passengers have disembarked.”
Passenger John Spence said he has a pilot’s licence and believed he “understood” what had happened.
“There was a hydraulic problem in the landing gear so, of course, when they touched down, it just swerved to the right slightly,” he said.
“But the pilot is fantastic, I feel for the guy because his legs must be like jelly.”
Spence said the swerve happened about three or four seconds after the plane landed.
“I believe they took out about two or three of the lights.”
He said everyone in the cabin was “pretty calm” during the incident.
Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.
