Country's patchy flying record goes under microscope

New Zealand's poor track record of light plane crashes and fatalities will be put under the spotlight today.

A seminar in Palmerston North will try to find out why there have been so many crashes and what can be done to prevent them in future.

The seminar, hosted by the Massey University School of Aviation, "will look at why so many small aircraft crash, despite having qualified pilots and no apparent defects", said a university statement.

In 1995 a Dash 8 crashed east of Palmerston North, killing five passengers and seriously injuring 12 more.

In 2003 seven Crop and Food scientists and the pilot died when a PA 31 Chieftain crashed during a night approach to Christchurch.

By the university's tally, between those two events, a further 12 Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) accidents happened.

They resulted in 33 serious injuries and fatalities.

More accidents, including fatalities, have happened since.

Captain Ashok Poduval, general manager of the school of aviation, said New Zealand had an "unfortunate" record of CFIT accidents.

"Such accidents occur for a variety of reasons, including crew disorientation, loss of awareness of position in space often associated with flying in inclement weather, and inadvertent descent below minimum prescribed altitudes caused by high workload."

- NZPA