Government demands answers from CAA over fatal air crash

The Piper Navaho Chieftain crashed on approach to Christchurch Airport. Picture / Simon Baker

The Government is demanding "urgent" answers from the Civil Aviation Authority after yet another report criticised the watchdog's air safety monitoring role.

The CAA - already under fire from the Auditor-General for taking too long to act on serious safety issues - was yesterday chastised in a coroner's report which found that a fatal air crash in 2003 could have been prevented.

Eight people were killed and only two survived the crash of a light plane near Christchurch Airport, making the tragedy the seventh-worst air crash in New Zealand aviation history.

Pilot Michael Bannerman, 52, was flying a plane carrying nine Crop & Food Research Institute employees home from a Palmerston North conference when it went down in farmland, 2km short of the runway.

Mr Bannerman, director, sole shareholder and chief pilot of Air Adventures, and seven Crop & Food staff died.

Christchurch coroner Richard McElrea identified a series of failings by Mr Bannerman before the crash. But he also put the spotlight firmly on the CAA's monitoring of pilots and aircraft charter companies, noting that there had been complaints about Mr Bannerman's flying.

The coroner went on to suggest that the Transport Minister consider splitting some of the aviation watchdog's duties.

In particular, it should be considered whether the law enforcement role carried out by the CAA should be separated from its safety enforcement management role.

Acting Transport Minister Michael Cullen last night demanded answers from the CAA board.

In a strongly worded statement, he said he had asked the board to explain what "urgent action" it was taking in response to the critical coroner's report and a damning Auditor-General's report released last year.

"The coroner's report has raised a number of concerns about the general aviation sector," Dr Cullen said, referring to smaller aircraft.

He wanted assurances that lessons would be learned quickly from the crash and that the CAA would move speedily to address any issues in its rules and procedures.

In a hint that the Government may be open to altering its role, Dr Cullen also noted that the Transport Ministry was reviewing the Civil Aviation Act.

The Government has also instructed the ministry to report on the coroner's recommendations and create a monitoring system to ensure they are acted on.

CAA director John Jones yesterday answered criticism by saying the watchdog had made changes to its practices since the crash.

Much of the information which the coroner had produced about Mr Bannerman and his operation was as a result of hindsight.

"We are saying, yes, we could have done things better," Mr Jones said.

"But we are also saying we would have liked to have the information which has come out subsequently to the crash three years ago given to us."

Mr Jones' defence risked falling on deaf ears last night because the CAA already has a record of failing to respond to criticism.

The Auditor-General's report released just over a year ago expressed concern "that little action" was taken by the CAA to address recommendations made in audits in 1997 and 2000.

The latest Auditor-General's report revealed that in some cases the CAA had taken more than 300 days to address examples of questionable safety.

The families of some of the victims of the Air Adventures crash expressed doubt yesterday that the CAA would follow through on changes.

They said they had "no faith" that it would adopt the recommendations of the coroner.

National Party transport spokesman Maurice Williamson last night called for heads to roll at the CAA.

"How many times can you hear the excuse, 'We're still working on this', before you finally don't have any confidence that what's going on is being done properly?"

- Additional reporting: NZPA