Red alert at Auckland Airport

Photo / Martin Sykes

Major safety issues have been exposed at Auckland Airport which had the potential to cause planes to crash.

An investigation into why a cargo door opened on an Eagle Air flight between Auckland and Whangarei has revealed baggage loaders have been forgetting to lock cargo doors.

If the door which opened mid-flight had broken off the Beech 1900D it could have smashed into the tail and potentially caused a major problem.

The flight with nine passengers and two crew had to make an emergency landing soon after taking off from Auckland on April 8.

A Civil Aviation Authority investigation shows the door had not been locked. Loaders usually closed doors but did not lock them while they waited for late bags.

The CAA also found the paint had worn off the button which made it difficult to confirm if the door was unlocked.

Staff had not been trained sufficiently in "cargo door button operation".

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) is also investigating the incident. Its report won't be released before April next year.

Said chief investigator Tim Burfoot: "A cargo door opening has the potential to be dangerous in that type of aircraft.

"There are a lot of them in New Zealand operated by Eagle Air. If the door had come off it could have damaged the tail section of the plane, which has happened overseas."

Aviation insiders say a heavy object like a door hitting and or damaging the tail could bring it down.

Eagle Air is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air New Zealand and operates 18 Beech 1900D airliners on domestic routes.

Spokeswoman Tracy Mills said "corrective" actions had been taken.

The incident was one of 79 listed as major or critical released to the Herald on Sunday by the CAA under the Official Information Act.

CAA has refused to identify airlines, citing privacy reasons.

The incidents show aircraft came too close to each other 12 times.

One involved an Air New Zealand flight and another plane, passing within 213m of each other on a flight between Auckland and Wellington on January 11.

Airways spokeswoman Nikki Hawkey said the incident was "pilot-related".

Mills refused to discuss the incident, and CAA won't reveal the name of the other airline.

In another incident two planes crossed paths and breached minimum separation distance on February 3.

Hawkey said the cause was inadequate checking by an air traffic controller who was distracted briefly.

"The problems, causes and actions resulting from this occurrence will be covered in the sector's up-coming training," a report said.

Hawkey said Airways had undertaken a number of "remedial actions" since the incident.

Aviation commentator Peter Clark said every incident involving planes getting "too close" should be investigated so the industry could learn from them.

In October a TAIC report showed the number of aircraft near-collisions at Auckland Airport had gone from 17 in the 1990s to 131 between 2000 and this year.

Incidents in the past year
* A jet was sent around after a pilot did not stay clear of a runway gate.
* Plane turned left instead of continuing straight and "conflicted" with another aircraft.
* Pilots on a visual approach realised they were too high and too fast. Their manoeuvre brought them into conflict with a following aircraft.
* Aircraft declared mayday because of smoke in the cockpit. The smoke came from a faulty de-icing pressure switch overheating.
* An Aircruiser slide raft was removed for routine maintenance. Corrosion was found to the extent that would have prevented the slide from operating.
* Slide failed to deploy correctly during checks.
* A plane flew from Santiago to Auckland with a panel missing.
* Four cartons of aerosols were loaded and carried by a passenger from Auckland to Christchurch undeclared.