KEY POINTS:
Closure of the Milford Sound fuel depot for aircraft next month could create an unnecessary safety hazard, an aviation industry spokeswoman said today.
Mobil intends to demolish the facility and remediate the site for environmental reasons, The Southland Times reports.
Aviation Industry Association chief executive Irene King said she was surprised her organisation hadn't been consulted. The Milford Sound Aerostop was a strategic depot and its closure could create an unnecessary safety hazard.
Ms King said flight manuals listed Milford Sound as having fuel available, and she was concerned about aircraft flying there expecting service.
"It's bloody dangerous getting over there and finding that you've got inadequate fuel to get back.
"The Government should be holding them (Mobil) accountable for some of this."
Mobil Oil New Zealand spokeswoman Anne Rix said from Melbourne that customers and stakeholders had been notified the service would end in the first week of June.
There had been extensive verbal and written consultation with its customers and the community trust about alternative methods of supply, she said.
Veteran helicopter pilot Lloyd Matheson said Fiordland search and rescue operations could suffer "drastically'.
He said the closure could dramatically increase the chances of an unsuccessful operation because of extra distances involved in refuelling.
"It could, in the long run, create a loss of life if it was in a desperate rescue attempt."
A former police sergeant with 25 years' experience in Fiordland search and rescue, Mr Matheson said Milford-based search flights would need an extra hour from their three-hour flight time to fly to Te Anau or Queenstown for refuelling.
- NZPA
