Bill Sommer quoted as saying:
He said a flight plan may not have saved Dr Smith and Ms D'Eve but it would meant the search for them would have begun within minutes and not the next day.
The search would have started within minutes, within minutes of what.
Certainly not the accident.
The SAR time on the plan has to expire first, before anything happens. The VFR flight plan system in New Zealand is completely computer based. If it is filed via the internet the only person who knows its there is the pilot. The only time anyone else knows a plan has been filed is when the SAR time expires and the computer spits out an overdue indication.
You are encouraged to ensure that you allow plently of time to cancel after you land if you are not cancelling in the air.
You could crash hours before the SAR time expires, no one will start looking until the computer raises the alarm.
All aircraft in New zealand must carry an operative ELBA. Obviously didn't work in this case.