No trace of drone owner in near-miss investigation

Police "exhausted all avenues" to find the machine and its owner. Photo / Supplied

An investigation into allegations of a near-miss between an Air New Zealand flight and a drone has found no trace of the drone or its owner.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) followed up the airline's report of a close encounter between an Airbus A320 and a "sizeable" red remotely piloted aircraft system.

The incident was reported as happening above Christchurch on September 25.

It sparked criticism of the CAA from the country's pilots union, and a spat between drone operators and Air New Zealand.

Although no culprit was located, three weeks after the incident, the CAA said it was grateful for help from the public during the investigation.

"We were pleased that six witnesses came forward to help us with our investigation," said John Kay, Acting Director of Civil Aviation.

In a statement released today, the CAA said the pilot judged the remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) to be about one metre long and half a metre wide.

The pilot said the object seen was "not a normal aircraft configuration" and "contrasted quite clearly against the cloud cover below".

The object was observed for about five seconds.

Police "exhausted all avenues" to find the machine and its owner.

The incident reported on September 25 alarmed Air New Zealand, Transport Minister Simon Bridges and the Air Line Pilots' Association, the union for pilots and air traffic controllers.

"Our members fear that we will continue to see an increasing number of these type of occurrences unless more restrictions are placed around the use of drones and that the Civil Aviation Authority starts to actively educate the New Zealand public on a large scale," the union said in an earlier statement.

Some drone operators told NZME News Service they questioned whether the object reported in the Canterbury skies was a drone at all.

Soon after the incident, Air New Zealand said there was an "emerging trend of a reckless use of drones that puts the safety of customers and staff at risk".

Since then, NZME News Service repeatedly asked the airline to elaborate on what other incidents were part of this "trend". The airline refused to answer, citing the CAA investigation.

Asked how sure the airline was that the object in Christchurch was specifically a multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known here as a "drone", the airline again refused to answer.

Further comment has been sought from the airline this afternoon.