Fox Glacier plane crash victim's son backs critical report findings

Thursday, 29 October 2015

Wreckage of a skydiving plane lies near the Fox Glacier airstrip after a crash, which claimed nine lives.

A son of one of the nine people who died in a skydiving plane crash near Fox Glacier says the findings of a new report are 'fantastic'.

The investigation into the crash lacked resources and handled evidence poorly, the report has found.

Investigators at the crash scene in 2010.

The review found the ZK-EUF plane was 110 kilograms over its maximum allowed weight and that the plane's rearward centre of gravity increased the risk of the pilot losing control.

All nine people on board died when the plane crashed during take-off from the Fox Glacier Aerodrome less than nine hours after Christchurch's magnitude-7.1 earthquake on September 4, 2010.

The wreckage of a skydiving plane that crashed during take-off from the Fox Glacier Aerodrome on September 4, 2010, killing nine people.

They were Skydive New Zealand director and tandem dive master Rod Miller, 55, of Greymouth; pilot Chaminda Senadhira, 33, of Queenstown; and dive masters Adam Bennett, 47, from Australia but living in Motueka; Michael Suter, 32, of New Plymouth; and Christopher McDonald, 62, of Mapua.

Tourists Patrick Byrne, 26, of Ireland; Glenn Bourke, 18, of Australia; Annika Kirsten, 23, of Germany; and Brad Coker, 24, of England, also died.

Miller's son, Jake Miller, said he was pleased with the report's findings.

'It's fantastic to see because it's what we've been saying all along.

'After the plane crash happened, every single aviation expert we spoke with agreed with us that weight and balance was not the primary cause of the accident.'

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) released its initial report into the fatal crash in May 2012, saying the primary cause was issues with 'weight and balance'.

A year later, a coroner published findings on the same event and instead found the crash was caused by some other, unidentified factor, combined with weight and balance.

Public criticism about the control of wreckage at the site sparked TAIC to commission an independent review of the evidence by aviation expert Bruce Robertson.

In a report released on Thursday, TAIC said resourcing at the crash site 'was not adequate', while the control and handling of evidence was 'not as structured and disciplined as it should have been'.

The report noted the investigation was done under 'difficult circumstances', with the investigator in charge being the only TAIC air investigator available that day.

'He attended the accident from Christchurch while continuing to deal with the aftermath of a major earthquake . . . that had affected his home and family.'

Jake Miller said the investigation into the nine deaths was 'poor'.

'For an organisation in charge of investigating plane crashes to be burying evidence two or three days after the crash without actually investigating it is pretty poor practice.'

Bennett's mother, Pamela Bennett, said the report had taken a 'long time' and hadn't 'resolved anything'.

'An accident of this magnitude and the loss of nine lives is a big impact and on those nine families and the industry should look at what they're doing.'

She said the family was 'devastated' by their loss.

'You can't fill a hole left by one member.

'I don't think as a mother you get over that, you do not expect to be predeceased by your children.'

Pamela Bennett said her son would often call her after a skydiving accident to tell her he was not involved.

'This time, there was no call.'

The report said TAIC had since secured extra government funding to better resource investigations, employ more investigators and hire experts to undertake detailed testing where needed.

The plane had been flown regularly without the pilots knowing the weight and balance was 149kg lighter than the maximum total weight it had been certified for in its previous agricultural role.

'Excess weight alone would have been exceptionally unlikely to have caused the accident of the flight manual limit for the flights,' the report said.

Tests indicated the plane should have been controllable at take-off, and the centre of gravity position alone was unlikely to have caused the crash.

'However, in combination with any other adverse factor, a very rearward centre of gravity increased the risk of the pilot losing control of the aeroplane,' the report said.

'[TAIC] considered various adverse factors that might have been present singly or in combination, but could not determine the cause of the excessive pitch-up at take-off that preceded the steep climb and the subsequent stall.'