KEY POINTS:
A Tauranga pilot has admitted putting the lives of his passengers at risk by flying his plane on several occasions when it was not permitted to fly by the Civil Aviation Authority.
Paul Ensor, 40, owner of Island Air Charters in Mount Maunganui, is the pilot whose twin-engine plane lost power and was forced to crash-land on the mudflats at Plummers Point in December.
After the forced landing Ensor was suspended from flying and his company's air operating certificate was also suspended pending CAA investigations.
Ensor faced 15 serious breaches of the CAA regulations and planned to defend the charges on November 12. But in Tauranga District Court yesterday he changed his pleas, admitting to seven charges while eight other allegations were withdrawn.
Ensor admitted five counts of operating an aircraft, between July 29 and August 3 last year, which caused unnecessary danger to passengers when the aircraft was not in an airworthy condition.
Ensor also pleaded guilty to one charge each of doing maintenance work on the plane when he did not hold a current aircraft maintenance engineer's licence and without being supervised by someone who did.
A further charge of making an alteration to a plane's records was also admitted.
Ensor is liable to a maximum penalty of 12 months' jail or a fine up to $10,000 for each offence.
His lawyer, Matthew Ward-Johnson, told Judge Michael Crosbie some minor negotiations were ongoing to revise the summary of facts.
Given that the likely penalty was a substantial fine he did not see the need for a probation report. Crown prosecutor Chris Macklin agreed and said he would be able to file a signed-off summary of facts by Friday.
Ensor is to appear in court again on November 14 when he will be sentenced.
- NZH
