Skydiving team had spotless record, company says

Dive master Rodney Miller, pilot Chaminda Senadhira and dive master Michael Suter died in the crash, along with five others. Photos / Supplied

The pilot and four skydiving masters killed in a fiery plane crash in Fox Glacier yesterday had a perfect safety record with nearly 35,000 jumps between them, one of the company's owners says.

The five men, who all worked for Skydive New Zealand, were killed along with four overseas tourists when their plane crashed at the end of the runway at Fox Glacier Airport at 1.15pm.

Police named the victims as pilot Chaminda Senadhira, 33, from Queenstown, and dive masters Adam Bennett, 47, from Australia but living in Moteuka, Michael Suter, 32, from New Plymouth, Christopher McDonald, 62, from Mapua, and Rodney Miller, 55 from Greymouth.

The four tourists who died were Patrick Byrne, 26, from County Wexford, Ireland; Glen Bourke, 18, from Coburg, Victoria, Australia; Annita Kirsten, 23, from Germany; and Brad Coker, 24, from Farnborough, England.

Skydive NZ business partner John Kerr today said he was "absolutely devastated and numbed" by the crash that claimed the lives of more than a third of his staff.

"On behalf of the surviving members of the company all of our thoughts are with the families of all nine people whose lives have been lost, here in New Zealand and in England, Ireland, Germany and Australia," he said.

Skydive NZ has operated out of Fox Glacier for 12 years and is a member of NZ Parachute Industry Association.

Mr Kerr said the company had a "100 per cent robust safety track record".

Mr Miller, who was also a business partner, had extensive safety qualifications and was a qualified parachute packing technician with more than 13,000 jumps.

"Each flight is preceded by detailed safety briefings ... the aircraft was certified and approved and maintained to meet all Civil Aviation standards," Mr Kerr said.

The Fletcher FU24 aircraft was scheduled for servicing in Timaru in the next few weeks.

NZ Parachute Industry Association chair Stuart Bean said the Fletcher aircraft had been used for skydiving for more than 10 years and was approved by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Skydiving operations are subject to regular audits and spot checks, he said.

"As with all accidents, there could be many reasons for the tragedy and it is too early to speculate on the cause."

Transport accident investigators are confident they will find "most, if not all", of the reasons for crash, despite fire causing massive damage to the aircraft.

A team of six investigators from the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC), with the regional coroner Richard McElrea, was trying travelling to the crash scene today to begin inquiries.

Some crashes had to be investigated with no survivors, no witnesses, and no wreckage.

In this case, all nine aboard the plane were killed, but there were witnesses and the wreckage would be sifted for clues that remained from the fire that consumed the aircraft, Investigator in charge Ian McClelland said.

The former topdressing aircraft, modified for skydiving operations, was not required to have a flight recorder, or voice recorder, and did not have these devices aboard.

"But given the availability of the other evidence that is likely to be forthcoming, we are pretty confident we can identify most if not all of the contributing factors," Mr McClelland said.

The average time for release of a public report into a crash was between nine and 15 months.

The bodies of the victims will be taken to Auckland mortuary, not Christchurch because of the state of emergency in force following yesterday's massive earthquake.

Labour Leader Phil Goff today sent his condolences to the crash victims' family and friends.

"The Fox Glacier community is a small one and this tragedy will have been felt by all those in the tourist town," he said.

"My heartfelt condolences go out to all those who have been affected. This tragedy has left nine families wondering what happened and I hope they receive those answers quickly."

- NZPA

















\NZP