Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
28 September 2005
MEDIA RELEASE
For further information contact:
Bill Sommer
Tel: 0-4-560 9411 or
0-27-546 8216
The accident report can be viewed on the CAA web site, www.caa.govt.nz, under "Accidents & incidents - Fatal accident reports - 03/3531", or use this link: http://www.caa.govt.nz/Accident_Reports/ZK-EOA_Fatal_05Dec2003.pdf
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Fatal Crash of Cessna 172 While Mountain Flying Training
The Civil Aviation Authority accident report into the fatal crash of a Cessna 172 aircraft (ZK-EOA) 2km east of Lake Luna concluded that the aircraft probably encountered a high vertical descent rate in forecast severe turbulence in the mountains. The pilot under instruction, although seriously injured, survived, but the instructor received fatal injuries when the aircraft impacted rising ground near the top of a steep gully.
The accident flight was part of a structured mountain flying training course conducted by the Wakatipu Aero Club based at Queenstown Airport. The course provides pilots with practical training in a mountain flying environment, and is used by commercial pilots to upgrade their flying standards if they have trained in other areas of New Zealand that cannot provide that standard of mountain training. The course has the support of many local tourist operators who require the training as a pre-requisite when pilots apply for job vacancies.
The crew on the fatal flight consisted of a commercial pilot under instruction who had just begun his course, and a mountain flying qualified B category flying instructor who had considerable experience in the area.
The instructor pilot was appropriately licensed, experienced, and fit to carry out the flight. The aircraft had a current Airworthiness Certificate and had been maintained in accordance with current requirements. No pre-accident defect was found.
The aircraft wreckage was found away from the normal mountain flying training route, in an area not normally flown by the Aero Club, and no conclusive reason could be found for the aircraft to have deviated from the normal route. There may have been a navigational error on the part of the student who was unfamiliar with mountain flying, which might have been allowed to continue by the instructor who was very familiar with the area. A similar accident occurred under these circumstances in 1981 near this location. Another scenario could be that the turn into Lake Luna was not executed due to poor localised weather conditions and that the option of continuing up the valley in order to find a sufficient area to conduct a turn was used. The significant sink that would have been encountered in the lee of the range may not have been anticipated when this option was taken.
Most aspects of flying are about risk management. The accident report concluded that while any one of the elements in this accident scenario was not necessarily dangerous in itself, taken in combination and at the critical point of the Lake Luna turn off, the pilots, having found themselves unexpectedly further up a narrow valley at relatively low altitude with rising terrain and severe winds and turbulence to contend with, had limited remaining options available to them.
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