Defence begins for night-flight pilot

A view of Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown. Photo / File

Lawyers will today begin the defence case for a pilot accused of putting passengers at "undue risk" by carelessly taking off from Queenstown Airport in fading light.

The case is set to resume in Queenstown District Court after the pilot, whose name has been suppressed, pleaded not guilty to careless operation of an aircraft.

When the trial began in March, the court heard the 54-year-old Auckland pilot potentially endangered the 65 passengers and six crew on board the Boeing 737 when he departed for Sydney on June 22, 2010.

The Civil Aviation Authority alleges the Pacific Blue pilot left the airport at 5.25pm, breaching the airline's rule that flights could leave no later than 30 minutes before the evening civil twilight time of 5.45pm.

There has previously been evidence of an automatic cockpit alarm blaring "don't sink, don't sink" as the flight was leaving Queenstown, warning the crew of imminent danger.

An Air New Zealand pilot of 39 years, Colin Glasgow, told the court the pilot received warnings no pilot should ever hear.

"Pilots will fly their entire career and not hear these warnings," Mr Glasgow, a prosecution witness, said.

He said "a number of elements" were breached in the flight, which placed the aircraft at undue risk.

A witness to the departure said he had never seen an aircraft take off at that angle before.

Robert Clark, a mechanic, was in his vehicle in a street above Lake Wakatipu when he saw the plane fly over.

"I'd never seen one take off at that angle before, quite honestly," Mr Clark said. "Normally, they come out and climb, but this one sort of didn't."

Thirty seconds after take-off, a Fire Rescue Service member called the control tower asking: "How big are his gonads?"

Defence counsel Matthew Muir told the court in March the pilot was "probably the absolute top of the tree in terms of aircraft qualifications".

The defence case will start before Judge Kevin Phillips today.