Deadly mid-air crash 'could have been prevented'

Thursday, 18 December 2014

A 'near perfect storm' of events that led to a triple-fatality air crash could have been prevented if authorities had paid more attention to safety standards, a coroner has found.

In 2008, trainee pilot James Taylor, 19, was taking his final flight test with examiner David Fielding, 30, when their helicopter collided midair with a Cessna 521 flown by 17 year-old schoolboy Bevan Hookway.

READ MORE:

* Desperate attempt to avoid collision

* Coroner's findings on David Fielding, Bevan Hookway, and James Taylor (pdf)

The helicopter plunged through the roof of Paraparaumu's Placemakers store while the plane's fuselage landed about 250 metres away, with its engine crashing through a house roof.

Fielding and Taylor were killed instantly. Hookway died five hours later in hospital.

Coroner Ian Smith's report into the deaths, released today almost seven years after the crash, found a 'near perfect storm' of events could have been prevented if authorities had paid more attention to safety.

Crucially, the report found the procedure used to organise multiple aircraft at the airport was a 'flawed concept'.

The overhead-joining procedure saw pilots relying on radio updates from each other, and a 'see and avoid' flight rule with two aerial circuits for users, sharing the same altitude, but heading in opposite directions.

A 1996 Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) safety report recommended changes to this system, but it had been ignored by the CAA and the airport, Smith said.

'Having reviewed all the evidence and all the submissions that have been made, despite what representatives from CAA and the operators of Paraparaumu Airport contend, it was clear that, in my view, at the time of this collision there had been less than a robust application of ensuring that the airport and its users met the standards expected.

'There also seemed to be a hiatus in the recording of meetings of all users at the airport in the period subsequent to the 1996 review, which all point to a slightly laissez-faire attitude.'

Dave Fielding's mother, Jan Fielding, said she felt vindicated by the coroner's findings after the initial Transport, Accident and Investigation Commission report placed blame on the pilots.

'The problem was the flight paths converged, what we were trying to show that because of closing speeds even if they had seen each other there was no way they could avoid each other.

'I was just writing a Christmas letter to friends saying we think we've achieved what we wanted to achieve and that was that the pilots were not at fault…it's nice to have it behind us but there's no sense of closure because there's still that huge gap, David's not here and it could have been avoided.'

Trish Hookway, whose teenage son Bevan died, praised the coroner's work and his finding that the airport was not safe.

The fact a report identifying problems in 1996 could be ignored for 12 years leading up to the crash was unacceptable.

'We feel pretty upset that can go without being addressed, there's just all these factors that came into play.

'Even if one of those things had been taken away the risk of the accident may [have been reduced], but it was all those things together and the CAA should have been able to oversee what goes on at the airport and had those regulations in place I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you.'

A removal of height restrictions in 2006 following noise complaints from nearby residents had also exacerbated the risk of a crash, Smith said in the report.

Rules that removed the regulatory powers of the CAA when it came to unmanned airfields - those that lacked people on the ground directing aircraft - needed to be reviewed, especially when it came to busy aerodromes.

'It remains my view that this is yet another example of where once there was a power to supervise this type of operation - but like other moves to place such responsibility on operators, contractors or users to self-monitor such as what occurred at Pike River or more recently in the logging industry - such self-regulatory concept is flawed.'

CAA director Graeme Harris said Smith's findings were accepted and he admitted the authority should have done better in following up the safety recommendations it made in 1996.

'It's certainly our responsibility to do everything we can to achieve the desired outcomes…but look, I think it would be fair to say the CAA could have been more proactive in trying to influence the user group.'

The CAA was hamstrung by having no authority over smaller aerodromes, but changes to the rule were being discussed at present that would bring many of them under their jurisdiction.

Harris was adamant that if a similar report on an aerodrome was prepared by CAA, it would be followed up robustly.

Kapiti Coast Airport chief executive Robert Binney refused to be interviewed, but in a written statement said there had been significant changes since the accident around operational rules and procedures.

The airport had expanded and was no longer an uncontrolled airport..

New owners had purchases the airport following the crash so no further comment could be made, he said.

Smith recommended that the current rule restricting CAA regulatory powers be lowered to airfields dealing with nine-seat aircraft rather than 30-seat, as well as airfields that have more than 40,000 aircraft movements a year for three consecutive years.

He also recommended aerodromes that did not require certification meet minimum design standards for flight circuits, and CAA staff increase monitoring and inspection of any such aerodromes.

* Coroner Ian Smith died shortly before completing his report. Its release was ordered by the chief coroner.