Neha Jain: http://newzealandaviationnews.blogspot.com/6

1. Plane maker airs concerns about engine conversions

The manufacturer of the aircraft that crashed at Fox Glacier in September last year, killing nine people, has gone public with fears that the widespread practice of putting more powerful engines in the planes could have been a factor in that and other fatal crashes.

Hamilton-based Pacific Aerospace Limited (PAL) has suggested that the September crash, New Zealand's worst aviation disaster in 17 years, could have been avoided if its concerns had been acted on by aviation authorities.

However, the company's claims are disputed in aviation circles.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says it has extensively assessed the Fletcher FU-24 aircraft and believes it has responded appropriately to the concerns.

PAL spoke publicly after an approach by The Nelson Mail.

The company – which has had various name and other changes from the days when it manufactured the Fletcher planes until they were discontinued in the 1980s – said it had spent years trying to convince authorities that there were problems around the engine conversions, which increased the power and payload of the aircraft.

PAL directors told the Mail that 16 people in New Zealand and overseas had died in crashes involving modified Fletcher aircraft – primarily used in agriculture, but also by some skydiving operators – since rule exemptions in the late 1990s allowed the planes to be repowered and so fly with almost 40 per cent more than their designed maximum takeoff weight.

PAL had never supported the rule change.

The directors said that since a fatality near Whangarei in 2005 and another in Opotiki in 2007, both involving modified aircraft, the company had been involved in a "protracted campaign" with the CAA and the Ministry of Transport about the safety of the modified aircraft.

PAL director Pat McLaughlan said the aircraft were designed to have a 400-horsepower piston engine. Installing the turbine engines was like "putting a V8 in a Mini Minor".

He said that since 2007, the company had been trying to persuade the CAA to ground the turbine-powered Fletchers, pending a full review of the CAA's certification process and the safety of the aircraft.

In 2007, the company warned then transport safety minister Harry Duynhoven of the potential for disaster because repowered Fletcher aircraft were being used by parachuting operators "carrying predominantly foreign tourists".

McLaughlan said the company was "dumbfounded" when it heard of the Skydive New Zealand crash on September 4, which killed four foreign tourists, the pilot and four accompanying skydivers, including two from the Nelson region.

PAL believed the accident could have been prevented, but it did not blame Skydive NZ.

"It's never one instance – it's a whole series of things. No-one broke the law – it's the system that allowed it to happen," PAL chief executive Damian Camp said.

McLaughlan said that in simple terms, if the aircraft had not been repowered, it would not have been capable of carrying as many people.

2. NZ airline grounded over 'appalling' safety standards

A charter airline company whose customers include Air New Zealand and the Corrections Department has been grounded because of safety concerns.

Air National is New Zealand's largest charter airline, with nine aircraft ranging from private jets to airliners.

About 65 flights are expected to be affected if the Civil Aviation Authority's 10-day suspension of Air National's corporate air operating certificate, which began last Friday, continues.

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Air National operates two daily return flights between Christchurch and Hokitika on behalf of Air NZ, using a 19-seat Jetstream J32 turbo prop aircraft.

Air NZ said the service would instead use its own Beech 1900D and Bombardier Q300 regional aircraft to fly the route. No passengers would be affected by the grounding.

Yesterday a High Court judge said the suspension should be lifted pending a full hearing of the case but Justice Denis Clifford left it in place another 24 hours, till 4.30pm today, so the authority could appeal.

The "straw that broke the camel's back" was that flight simulator training records for two company pilots were at least wrong, possibly falsified.

The authority's lawyer, Kim Murray, said it was one of a series of incidents.

"The applicant [Air National] has an appalling history of non-compliance with minimum safety standards and suspension was inevitable when falsified training records were discovered," Mr Murray said.

But the company's lawyer, Sherridan Cook, said if that was true CAA would have acted earlier.

"Documentation issues" needed attention but the authority's concerns were far from the kind of real and imminent threat to safety that would justify stopping flights.

Justice Clifford said the company seemed to have responded generally satisfactorily to issues the authority raised. An investigation was justified, and then a decision made on suspension.

A suspension pending an investigation was more appropriate when immediate safety concerns occurred.

He was also concerned that the authority's director, Steve Douglas, suspended Air National three days after the auditor-general questioned whether authority staff were "overly helpful" to the company.

The company might not survive the loss of reputation and contracts if the suspension continued, Justice Clifford was told.

Air National's work includes charters for tourist companies – including a $4 million contract in just its second week – and Corrections Department, but it also supplies planes and crews for Eagle Air, an Air NZ subsidiary flying provincial routes.

3. Aviation round up

It is been a while since Kipp has done an aviation round up; seeing as it is a pretty slow news day with only a little happening in the world (Egypt excluded, of course), it seems like it would be a good day to end our hiatus from all things aviation.

So, do you want the good news or the bad news first? Seeing as we have three main updates, we’ll do good news, bad news, good news. Typically enough, the good news come from the Capital, and the not-so-good news from poor old Dubai.

Etihad finalizes Virgin Blue agreement:

Etihad and Virgin Blue have finalised their code-sharing partnership this month. As part of the agreement, V Australia, a subsidiary of Virgin Blue, will start launching non-stop flights to Abu Dhabi on February 24 and will use the capital as an “international hub.” In addition, as part of the agreement, Etihad will now sell tickets on V Australia flights to and from Abu Dhabi as well as other Virgin Blue flights within Australia and New Zealand. The new agreement means that together, Etihad and Virgin Blue total destination count is raised to more than 100.

Etihad for one, is thrilled about their latest partnership: James Hogan, Etihad chief, told The National: “This is just the beginning. We hope to expand the partnership over time, providing greater benefits to travellers by growing competition and opening new routes.” Nice one, Abu Dhabi.

DAE cancels Boeing order:

But now, on to the bad news. Ok, maybe not bad news, but the not-so-good news comes from Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, which recently dropped its plans to buy 32 Boeing 737 jets, valued at Dh8.4 billion. DAE lease planes out, in case you were wondering. But as disappointing as the news is, it is far from unexpected. Analysts in the industry had speculated that the announcement was due, after all last year DAE had cancelled plans to buy 50 jets from Boeing and Airbus worth about $8bn. The ambitious plans for the now cancelled orders were made during the 2007 Dubai Airshow, when things were much rosier and demand for jets presumably grew on trees.

Commercial aviation up at Al Bateen:

So back to the good news, then, and Abu Dhabi once again. Gulf News reports that the exclusives Al Bateen Executive Airport, operated and managed by Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), is boasting a 36 percent increase in commercial aviation last year over 2009. “Al Bateen Executive Airport has come a long way since it began operating as a commercial business aviation airport in 2008. The year-end performance report for Al Bateen Executive Airport indicated that the airport registered 7,970 commercial aircraft movements in 2010,” said Steve Jones, General Manager of Al Bateen Executive Airport.

It is bee

NEHA JAIN

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