Airline regulator accepts fault but not resigning

Annette King

The country's airline regulator has admitted it could have prevented the 2003 Air Adventures crash if it had followed its own rules, but neither the Civil Aviation Authority board nor its chief executive has offered to resign.

Last week Christchurch coroner Richard McElrea found the 2003 crash near the city's airport, which claimed eight lives, was preventable. Several of his recommendations targeted CAA, an organisation which the Auditor-General took to task last year for delays in tackling safety concerns.

Civil Aviation director John Jones is understood to be under pressure to resign, despite his assurances safety concerns were being addressed.

Chairman Ron Tannock yesterday refused to comment on what he called an employment matter and Transport Minister Annette King stressed that by law she had no relationship with the CAA director.

However, she said during an upcoming review of the CAA Act the board needed to look at the wide powers delegated to Mr Jones.

Mr Tannock and his deputy, Hazel Armstrong, met Ms King yesterday. Afterwards, Ms King said she had not asked for the resignation of Mr Tannock, but warned CAA that it would be held accountable if concerns about the safety of New Zealand's skies were not addressed.

She said yesterday's meeting had not been about "heads rolling", but rather improving air safety so another Air Adventures-type crash did not happen again.

"A head rolling or two heads rolling, in terms of the board's responsibility to me, isn't going to fix the problem," Ms King said.

"I'm focused on solutions rather than symbolic heads on stakes."

Mr Tannock told reporters he had not tendered his resignation to Ms King, but acknowledged Air Adventures pilot Michael Bannerman had only been in the cockpit because the CAA had not stuck to its rules that pilots or airlines which breached safety rules should not be flying.

Asked if he took responsibility for the crash, Mr Tannock said: "I wasn't chairman then, but I think the CAA has got to face up to that."

National Transport spokesman Maurice Williamson said he thought Mr Tannock should resign in the wake of Mr McElrea's inquest, and was stunned he did not resign after his comments yesterday.

"The CAA today are saying they take a certain amount of the responsibility for the Bannerman crash. What does that mean if there is no one going to go?" Mr Williamson said.

"If you believe in the word accountability ... if you put out a statement saying that the crash wouldn't have occurred without our incompetence - which is basically what he's saying - you should also be saying as the second sentence in that statement 'I therefore today have tendered my resignation'."

Mr Williamson said he understood Mr Jones had been asked to relinquish his post or face disciplinary action.

The reluctance of anyone at CAA to resign contrasts with other recent accountability issues.

In May the head of the Prime Minister's Department, Maarten Wevers, offered to resign after a messenger leaked a Cabinet paper - an offer which was turned down.

Last year, after two damning reports into NZQA's handling of the 2004 scholarship exams, NZQA chairman Graeme Fraser and chief executive Karen Van Rooyen both resigned.

Christchurch lawyer Jonathan Eaton, who is acting on behalf of the families, is overseas and could not be contacted. Family members spoken to last night declined to comment.

Mr Tannock expressed sympathy for the families and said no area would be neglected in implementing Mr McElrea's findings.

Ms King said she wanted the families of victims of the Air Adventures crash and the general public to know the recommendations of the coroner and Audit Office were accepted and would be implemented.

Last year an Auditor-General's report said little action had been taken by the CAA to address recommendations made in audits in 1997 and 2000.

Ms King said the CAA and the Ministry of Transport had agreed all recommendations would be implemented as soon as possible, and monthly progress reports would be posted on the CAA and MoT websites.