Pacific Blue pilot for sentence today

The Pacific Blue pilot found to have carelessly flown out of Queenstown in 2010 will be sentenced in the Queenstown District Court today.

The 55-year-old commercial airline pilot from Auckland faces losing his commercial pilot's license and a maximum fine of up to $7000. Judge Kevin Phillips earlier this month issued written findings on the charge and concluded the pilot, who has interim name suppression, was careless in his operation of the aircraft and that he ''occasioned unnecessary endangerment to the passengers, the crew and the aircraft itself''. Civil Aviation Authority records show that since 1998 there have been 33 careless operation charges leading to conviction. However, the CAA holds no record of a commercial passenger airline pilot being convicted.

Judge Phillips' verdict follows the June 22, 2010, flight and a four-week hearing held over four months last year.

He found the defendant breached Pacific Blue's evening civil twilight departure allowance time of 5.14pm; had left Queenstown for Sydney in poor light conditions; had breached industry requirements by not having a suitable contingency plan; and should not have taken off. He concluded the CAA's allegations that the pilot flew in cloud below the minimum altitude and in a heavy crosswind and failed to prepare an anti-ice increment were also correct. The pilot was flying a Boeing 737 carrying 64 passengers and five crew bound for Sydney. Before the incident, the pilot's commercial career comprised 16,043 hours' total flying time, of which 6000 hours were spent flying a Boeing 737, and 30 years' experience flying in and out of Queenstown.

Source:   http://www.odt.co.nz 

Pacific Blue pilot guilty of carelessness 

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 2:41p.m.

The Pacific Blue pilot who took off from Queenstown airport in fading light has been found guilty of carelessly operating an aircraft.

The charge against the Auckland-based 54-year-old pilot, who has name suppression, was brought by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) after the Boeing 737 took off 10 minutes after the official cut-off point in June 2010 in bad weather and fading light.

In a written decision Judge Kevin Phillips said the pilot should not have decided to take off.

"I am satisfied that the defendant ... was careless in his manner of operating the aircraft.

"The defendant ignored the mandatory requirements and, in their place, used his planned self designed contingency," he said.

During a defending hearing at Queenstown District Court spread between March and September last year, the court heard the flight bound for Sydney was meant to leave at 4:30pm but did not take off until 5:25pm - 20 minutes before official twilight - in poor weather and fading light.

The cut-off point for flights from Queenstown Airport was meant to be 30 minutes before twilight.

A former chief pilot for Air New Zealand, Colin Glasgow, told the hearing the aircraft did not reach the minimum altitude required to ensure it did not hit the nearby Southern Alps if an engine failed.

A witness to the incident told the court he feared the plane would crash while a senior CAA manager said the decision to take off was "a recipe for disaster".

"The defendant's decision to depart created a high-risk situation if the aircraft suffered an engine failure," Mark Hughes told the hearing.

The charge carries a maximum fine of $7000.

Source:  http://www.3news.co.nz