There have been several questions/statements on their altitude and letdown procedures so wanted to post this info which I was given by one of the DC10 pilots who testified and was on the transcript team.
Letdown procedures were given verbally at the briefing.
Approval was given for 1500ft
Approval was given to use own initiative on letdown procedure and approach
Testimony at trial was given by briefing pilot John Wilson and AirNZ Operations Manager Doug Keating
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Rananim
When I read the above post from SA, I agree with you - the Kiwi CAA surveillance was awfully inadequate, especially with an operator that had lost two a/c (DC8 & L188) in crew training operations. CAA, ANZ, weather and the crew all contributed to this disaster and I suspect that the crew provided the smallest portion.