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Source: Reuters -
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The first clue as to why the Air New Zealand airbus A320 crashed off the French coast late last year has surfaced in an investigators' report.
The 50 page interim report by the Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses, suggests the crash that claimed the lives of all seven people on board may have been caused by manoeuvres at too low an altitude while on a test flight.
It was during this flight that the crew lost control of the airplane, which crashed into the sea. Five New Zealanders died in the crash on November 27.
They were Captain Brian Horrell, 52, from Auckland; engineers Murray White, 37, from Auckland, Michael Gyles, 49, from Christchurch, Noel Marsh, 35, from Christchurch and Civil Aviation Authority airworthiness inspector Jeremy Cook, 58, of Wellington.
The aircraft had been on a two-year lease to XL Airlines Germany and had been repainted in Air New Zealand colours in preparation for the hand over.
Two German pilots were flying the plane while an Air New Zealand pilot, Brian Horrell, was performing flight deck checks.
The report says the crew requested authority to perform a 360 degree manoeuvre, but was denied permission to do so in general air traffic and was told by the air traffic controller their flight plan was not compatible with the manoeuvres requested.
They then embarked on a shortened flight and plunged into the sea on their return approach.
The nearly new aircraft crashed nose-first into the sea after the crew lost control on its final approach to Perpignan, the report says.
Witnesses all report seeing the plane in level flight above the sea on approach towards the French coast.
They say they were surprised and drawn by the sound of loud acceleration that was regular and unbroken, like the sound of an airplane taking off.
The report says that the majority of the witnesses saw the airplane disappear behind a cloud layer.
It then reappeared after a few seconds with a very steep nose-down angle. During the descent, the airplane pitch seemed to increase and the airplane struck the surface of the sea.
The report says the crash was not survivable, and all on board would have died on impact.
It is also possible that sensors on the fuselage of the plane may have been obscured or affected while the aircraft was being re-sprayed in the Air New Zealand livery.
The French investigators have recommended that check flights such as the one being carried out that November day now be subject to prior authorisation.
The guidelines are laid down in operations manuals on exactly what such flights can involve, and what qualifications are required for crews flying them.
Meanwhile, Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe says he is frustrated and angered that the report was released before the families of the deceased and even Air NZ were given the chance to read it.
He is annoyed that the airline hasn't been allowed to shed any insight into the actions of the crew before the Airbus plunged into the sea.
Fyfe says there is another, judicial, inquiry going on in France in which the families and Air New Zealand have been asked to contribute, but the results from that could take years to come out.
