Pilots knew route chosen by Sotheran to be dangerous

A landing approach to Palmerston North Airport, taken by an Ansett New Zealand airliner which crashed into a hillside, is considered dangerous by pilots, a High Court jury has heard.

Pilot Garry Sotheran, aged 45, of Christchurch, has pleaded not guilty to four charges of manslaughter and three of unlawfully injuring passengers after the crash of the Dash-8 airliner on June 9, 1995, which killed four of the 21 people aboard.

The court, sitting at Palmerston North, heard from defence lawyer Hugh Rennie, QC, that not only would Sotheran take the witness stand but eight or nine other pilots would also give evidence on his behalf, describing the unique features of that runway approach.

During his cross-examination of Canadian air accident investigator Terry Heaslip, a key Crown witness, Mr Rennie noted that the area near where the crash happened was now the site of the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere - "arguably the windiest place in New Zealand."

Pilots reported big problems from down-draughts and did not want to fly the approach because of the danger.

He suggested Mr Heaslip had excluded this from his crash investigation.

Mr Heaslip denied that, saying data from the aircraft, air traffic control and radar did not show down-draughts had been a factor.

He asked why the authorities allowed that runway approach to stay in use if it was so dangerous.

Mr Rennie criticised Ansett pilot-training methods and aircraft operating procedures, saying evidence would show they were relevant factors in the defence.

During extensive cross-examination, Mr Rennie questioned Mr Heaslip's interpretation of comments made by Sotheran and co-pilot Barry Brown on the cockpit voice recorder.

Mr Rennie said that evidence would also show that the Dash-8's altimeter had been affected not only by the wind but also by corrosion on its antennae.

Mr Heaslip, during re-examination by Crown lawyer Graham Lang, said the plane crashed because it descended too steeply and Sotheran failed to notice as he was distracted by an undercarriage problem he had handed over to the co-pilot.

- NZPA