http://nz.news.yahoo.com//070926/3/1tfp.html
Wednesday September 26, 02:46 PM
Air NZ grounds flights
Air New Zealand grounded about 60 flights to check 17 planes after a safety "issue" was found during routine inspection of an Eagle Air plane last night.
The Air NZ link carrier said engineers had identified "an issue" with an undercarriage component on a Beech 1900D aircraft.
About 1000 customers were affected by the cancellations.
Eagle Air said nine of the aircraft were back in service, while five required replacement parts and would be flying again within the next 48 hours.
The airline expected the rest of the fleet to be inspected by the end of the day.
In June, an Eagle Air Beechcraft 1900D made a belly landing at Blenheim airport when its landing gear failed to come down.
That landing was being investigated by both the transport Accident Investigation Commission and Eagle Air.
An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the inspection was routine, and had nothing to do with the ongoing investigation into the June incident. The TAIC report into the Blenheim landing was still being prepared, she said.
Civil Aviation Authority has been notified of the fault.
A spokesman said it was routine for the authority to be advised when faults were uncovered, and the airline had acted prudently by grounding the fleet.