CAA admits it could have prevented crash

The plane crashed just north of Harewood Airport. Picture / Christchurch Star.

New Zealand's airline regulator has admitted it could have prevented the 2003 Air Adventures crash if it had followed its own rules.

Air Adventures' Piper Navajo Chieftain plunged into farmland near Christchurch Airport on June 6, 2003, killing pilot Michael Bannerman, and seven Crop and Food Research staff.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) chairman Ron Tannock today told reporters at a joint press conference with Transport Minister Annette King that Air Adventures was able to keep flying despite past safety breaches "because we did not stick to our non-compliance no-fly rule".

Despite the admission, Ms King said Mr Tannock and other board members would keep their jobs.

Their tasks will now include overseeing the full implementation of recommendations from last month's coroner's inquest as well as those from an Audit Office report last year.

The CAA was hauled in after a series of critical comments about its performance, particularly its monitoring of the safety of small airlines.

Ms King called in Mr Tannock and his deputy, Hazel Armstrong, last week after a coroner's report raised concerns about the authority's monitoring of Air Adventures.

The CAA was also criticised last week by pilots over the operation of Taupo airport.

Last month MPs expressed concern that the authority's monitoring of "ratbag" airlines could be endangering people's lives.

The concerns followed the Auditor-General's office saying it could report little progress that there had been any improvements following damning CAA audits in 1997, 2000 and 2005.

Among the Auditor-General's findings were that CAA inspectors often ignored procedures for monitoring, recording and following up "critical findings", with one taking more than 400 days to be checked.

Critical findings are ones that place life at risk.

The CAA has said it has acted on the concerns and substantial progress has been made with accident rates falling.

- NZPA