Brian, I've ploughed through the Senate's hansard, and it's mostly irrelevent - which is typical of politicians. This accident was, clearly, the result of inadequate training in night-flying. If proper training had been provided and checked, I'm quite happy to put up my hand with the frenzied media and label the accident as 100% pilot error. Given the inadequate training, it's still pilot error, but to a diminished extent. This might cause ructions in Sale, but those ructions pale in comparison to the the ructions in NZ concerning TE901.
I don't think anyone can say that Jim Collins had inadequate training. Even 20 years on from the 7 years he spent in the RNZAF, a low run in a light plane at night would not have presented him with any degree of difficulty. So he has to be judged against a much higher standard. Desert Dingo complains about my reference to the money he was being paid, and says that it's irrelevant. I do not agree. Of all the Air NZ staff who made c*ck-ups, he was being paid the most. (Forget the exec pilots: they got hardly anything extra for their admin work, which might tend to explain why the superstar Vette was not amongst them).