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Air New Zealand's chief executive has dismissed a report that pilots ditched an Air New Zealand Airbus into the Mediterranean to avoid a French village.
Seven people including five New Zealanders were killed when the Air New Zealand A320 plane crashed off the coast of France near Perpignan on Friday.
A cockpit voice recorder recovered from the crash site has been sent to Paris today for evaluation and investigators hope it will throw light onto what caused the crash.
One eyewitness has suggested the pilot steered plane into the sea to avoid crashing into the French village Canet.
However, Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe, who arrived in France yesterday, said such speculation was "very destructive".
"Particularly to the family members who are eagerly awaiting facts - they find the speculation very tough to deal with," he said on Radio New Zealand this morning.
Eyewitness reports were the least reliable source of information, he said.
" You often get five or six people witnessing the same event with five or six completely different accounts, so I would caution people (not) to put any stock in these supposed eye witness accounts at this stage."
He had seen nothing which validated the report the plane had been steered away from the village, Mr Fyfe said.
"If we look at the final stages of the flight as best as we can piece it together from the factual information, it appears to have been following the flight path that it was expected to follow on its approach to Perpignan airport."
Four of the men killed were Air New Zealand staff.
Yesterday Mr Fyfe visited the crash site to pay his silent respects, walking across the beach and staring out at the crash site in the Mediterranean Sea.
The partner of one of the men killed, Murray White, also arrived in Perpignan yesterday.
An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said that over the next two days the family members of three of the other victims would travel to Perpignan.
Two unidentified bodies have been recovered and more than 40 search and rescue divers are searching for the others.
Investigators have also located a second black box and are hoping to bring it to the surface.
Air New Zealand staff killed were Auckland pilot Captain Brian Horrell, 52, Auckland engineer Murray White, 37, and engineers from Christchurch Michael Gyles, 49, and Noel Marsh, 35.
Civil Aviation Authority official Jeremy Cook, 58, from Wellington, was also killed.
The plane was being flown by two German pilots from XL Airlines, which had leased the Airbus from Air NZ. It was due to be returned to Air NZ.
- NZPA
