Malcomyoung90,
"There is so much criticism of CAD in both the Chippendale report and the Mahon report, it will be interesting to read what one of their directors had to say in their defence. Despite all of the criticism of the CAD in the Mahon report, the Government formed a state services commission (or similar name) that cleared CAD of ANY responsibility of the crash, despite the fact that they agreed that there were many shortcomings with what they approved."
That was the Bolt/Kennedy report, far from a State Services Commission.
Sir Richard Bolt would have had to been the most highly qualified aviator in New Zealand at the time. I think the main criticism was the fact that CAA trusted Air New Zealand staff to carry out the requirements of the clearance to operate to Antarctica, and did not monitor the proceedings closely enough.
As has been stated before in this thread, an airline inspector was scheduled to go on FLT901, but due to a family illness had to cancel. One wonders if the flight would have been conducted in the same manner if it was known a CAA airline inspector was onboard.