Crash 'not pilot error'
Last updated 12:00 03/02/2012
A friend of the Palmerston North man who died when the plane he was in crashed in Feilding has said the crash was caused by a mechanical issue, rather than pilot error.
The Palms managing director Ralph Saxe, 51, and chiropractor Brett Ireland, 50, died in a Yak-52 aircraft crash at Timona Park in Feilding on January 23. It was still unclear who was flying the plane.
During Dr Saxe's funeral at Taonui Aerodrome in Feilding yesterday, friend and flying partner Neil Jepsen told the more than 500 mourners the crash was not the result of pilot error. He said it appeared the crash was caused by unrecoverable mechanical failure.
The Civil Aviation Authority confirmed yesterday that investigators had found a "stubby type screwdriver" among the wreckage, which may have caused the crash.
Spokeswoman Emma Peel said they were not certain of the cause.
But the discovery mirrored a case in Britain in 2003, when two people died after a similar tool became lodged in the tail of the aircraft, and affected its controls.
She said the screwdriver "may have rendered the aircraft unflyable".
"Foreign object damage (FOD) is a known risk to aerobatic aircraft. Any loose material, even a paper clip, can shift during aerobatics and affect the aircraft's controls."
The CAA had since contacted all New Zealand Yak-52 owners to advise them of this finding and recommended a visual inspection of any foreign objects before flying.
The CAA hoped to have a preliminary report on the investigation out within three weeks.