Cellphone distraction caused plane crash - report

Cellphone distraction was the main reason for a fatal top dressing plane crash in the Bay of Plenty, an investigation has found.

Andrew Wilde, 38, was killed when his Fletcher crop spraying plane crashed into trees in a small gully about 600m from the top-dressing area near Opotiki on November 10 2007.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report said the father of three had been flying since his 20s, and was well known around the eastern Bay of Plenty.

Records showed that on the day of the accident, Mr Wilde made 14 cellphone calls lasting a total of more than 90 minutes and had received and sent text messages.

Nearly all the calls and messages involved a friend who was also a work colleague.

Mr Wilde initiated most calls by sending a text, but each time the signal was lost during the call, and the friend would phone back. The longest time of one call was 35 minutes.

The friend told the TAIC the context of the last phone call was not acrimonious or likely to have upset Mr Wilde.

She said Mr Wilde often made phone calls to help him stay alert.

In June 2007, Mr Wilde was warned not to use a cellphone while flying at a low level, after he hit a sheep while taking off on a top-dressing flight at the same time as talking on a cellphone, the report said.

"He had pledged to stop the practice, but not done so."

The use of cellphones by agricultural pilots flying at low levels was not uncommon, and was something the pilot did regularly, the report said.

"Because he continued to accept frequent and lengthy calls from the friend, the commission considered it likely that the calls had an emotional element that could have affected his concentration and thereby exposed him to a higher risk of misjudging his flight path during low-level operations."

The report found that pilot fatigue also contributed to the crash.

The TAIC recommended the director of Civil Aviation address the use of cellphones by pilots, the procedure for checking of pilot competency on single seat aeroplanes, and the installation requirements for emergency locator transmitters.

- NZPA