Fatal Fox Glacier helicopter crash report finds major failings
Thursday, 23 May 2019
A helicopter was overweight and being flown by an inexperienced pilot in poor weather when it crashed on a West Coast scenic tour, killing all seven on board.
Queenstown man Mitchell Paul Gameren was piloting a Fox & Franz Josef Heliservices helicopter when he and six others were killed in a crash during an Alpine Adventures scenic flight over the Westland National Park glacier just before 11am on November 21, 2015.
Gameren had safely landed the AS350 Squirrel helicopter at a designated spot called The Chancellor. He then took off and was headed headed back to base when the helicopter crashed. No mayday call was received.
A Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report released on Thursday highlighted a myriad of failings, but gave no conclusive cause. It found:
- The weather conditions on the day were unstable and unsuitable for conducting a scenic flight.
- Gameren had not been properly trained and did not have the appropriate level of experience expected of a senior pilot.
- The all-up weight of the helicopter almost certainly exceeded the maximum permitted.
- The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had identified 'significant and repetitive non-compliance issues' with the operator's training system and managerial oversight that warranted intervention long before the crash occurred.
**READ MORE:
* No resolution for fatal Fox Glacier helicopter crash pilot's family nearly four years on
* Pilot farewelled after crash
* Relief after all seven bodies recovered
'The Civil Aviation Authority identified significant non-compliances with the operator's training system and with managerial oversight prior to the accident. However, the CAA did not intervene and the operator was allowed to continue providing helicopter air operations,' TAIC chief commissioner Jane Meares said.
The others who died in the crash were Brits Andrew Virco, 50, Katharine Walker, 51, Nigel Edwin Charlton, 66, Cynthia Charlton, 70, and Australians Sovannmony Leang, 27, and Josephine Gibson, 29.
Brett Gameren said his brother was a trained and experienced pilot with good safety awareness.
'No-one is going to take off from the ice if they can't see. If he's taken off he would have thought he had the proper vision to do so. No-one takes off hoping to die,' he said.
Fox & Franz Heliservices owner James Scott last week pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to take all practical steps to keep his employees safe. A $64,000 fine was imposed.
Aviation Manual Development (2009) Ltd owned by Barry Waterland, who was the company's health and safety manager, also pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations.
CAA Director Graeme Harris said on Thursday while TAIC report did not identify a conclusive cause of the crash it portrayed a 'confronting picture' of the ineffectiveness of the CAA's regulatory oversight.
An independent review into any unresolved safety issues initiated after the draft report found there were none.
'I can safely say JP Scott's operation at the time was not at all typical of the vast majority of other operators in the sector and the CAA's performance at the time was not representative of what it is now,' he said.
Brett Gameren said there were still many unanswered questions.
'After three and a half years, which is a long time for the families, we still don't know what happened and what caused the accident,' he said.
'It's time technology caught up with the helicopter industry. If there were cameras in helicopters we would know what caused this accident. A black box or something like that.'
He called for more funding for the CAA to carry out more thorough audits.
Gameren said he had no ill will towards Scott, who he has met since, or Waterland.
'[Scott] wasn't flying the machine and he wasn't there in the office on that day,' he said.