CAA not keen on coroner's call for GPS in small aircraft

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is reluctant to take up a coroner's call to make global positioning systems (GPS) compulsory in small aircraft.

Queenstown Coroner Alan Macalister, who has just completed his investigation into the death of flying instructor Neil Turner in December 2003, believes lives could be saved if all small aircraft had GPS, the Press newspaper reported.

The coroner said trainee pilot Andrew Wilce was found alive three hours after the Cessna 172 crashed near Queenstown, killing Turner, because of the intuition and skill of the searching pilot.

Mr Wilce said the coroner's recommendation that the CAA seriously consider requiring all small aircraft to carry GPS equipment was sensible, and while he was found quickly, it could have been useful in the two-week search for businessman and helicopter pilot Michael Erceg, he said.

"The installation (of GPS) in aircraft would provide a valuable training tool and could save lives, time and money when aircraft go down," Mr Macalister said.

Christchurch Coroner Richard McElrea strongly criticised the CAA in May over the Air Adventures crash near Christchurch Airport on June 6, 2003, that killed eight people.

CAA spokesman Bill Sommer told the Press the information provided by GPS still needed to be transmitted and the systems were not always reliable.

"The problem in New Zealand is we have a hell of a lot of mountainous terrain, and in those areas and at the bottom of valleys we don't have cellphone coverage and you can have trouble with VHF cutting out as well," he said.

The number of programmes making use of satellite phones was growing and the authority was following developments with interest.

"We are some way off making them compulsory -- a long way off," he said.

The coroner found that the Queenstown aircraft lost significant height when it encountered turbulence while flying at a relatively low altitude in a valley with rising terrain.

- NZPA