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Five Kiwis dead in Air New Zealand crash
9.50AM By MICHAEL FIELD - Stuff.co.nz | Friday, 28 November 2008
AFP
RECOVERY: Rescuers recover the body of the one crew member recovered from the sea.
LATEST: Seven people - including five New Zealanders - were onboard the Air New Zealand Airbus A320 which crashed off the coast of France this morning, reportedly leaving no survivors.
It is understood three bodies have been recovered. Radio New Zealand is quoting the French Coastguard as saying there are no survivors.
An Air New Zealand captain and three engineers, as well as a New Zealand CAA inspector, were onboard the Airbus.
At a press conference this morning, Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe said he did know the status of the New Zealanders but the company, and CAA, were liaising closely with the families of those onboard.
"We have grave concerns for the situation."
The captain on the plane was described as a very experienced pilot.
Mr Fyfe said the aircraft had been leased to German company XL Airways for the past two years and had undergone maintenance in anticipation of a return to New Zealand at the end of this week.
The plane took off on a technical flight from Perpignan, France, this morning (NZ time) destined for Frankfurt in Germany. It was flown by two XL Airways pilots.
After a brief touchdown it crashed into the Mediterranean.
Searchers have located much of the wreckage, which is spread over a 300m area in rough seas.
Divers hope to be able to locate the plane's black box, in up to 45 metres of water tomorrow.
The crash happened on the anniversary of the Air New Zealand DC 10 crash into Mount Erebus on November 28, 1979, in which 257 people died.
“It adds a dimension to the tragedy. This is a very poignant day for Air New Zealand… to have this aircraft operated by XL Airways, to have this incident occur on the same day just adds to the tragedy.”
An Airbus statement this morning confirming the crash said the aircraft had accumulated 7000 flight hours during 2800 flight cycles.
The statement said Airbus would be providing technical assistance to crash investigators and a team of five specialists had been sent to the site.
The A320 is a twin-engine single-aisle aircraft, capable of seating 150 passengers.
Airbus said its concerns and sympathies went to the families, friends and loved ones of those affected by the accident.
The manufacturer was dispatching five specialists to the site to help French authorities determine the cause of the crash.
"The investigation remains the entire responsibility of the relevant authorities and it would be inappropriate for Airbus to enter into any form of speculation into the cause of the accident," the company said in a statement.
Five launches, two helicopters and a patrol airplane have been dispatched to the area of the crash, said First Officer Sandrine Parro of the Regional Operational Centre for Monitoring and Rescue (CROSS) for the Mediterranean.
A maritime affairs officer, Nicolas Renaud, said they were alerted by a pleasure boat skipper who saw the plane go down. "The plane appears to be in several pieces," he told BFM television.
A French minesweeper boat with bomb disposal expert divers was due to arrive at the site on Friday morning to search for the aircraft's black box recorders, said Bernard Celier, spokesman for the maritime prefecture for the Mediterranean.
The sea was choppy on Thursday evening, with southwesterly winds of around 30 knots (around 35 miles) per hour, he added.
The French daily Le Figaro says the plane was on a one hour 30 minute test flight and was approaching the airport when it went down.
The spokesman for XL said the plane tried to make an emergency landing on the sea.
The Mayor of Perpignon says wreckage has been recovered from many hundreds of metres around the crash site.
They mobilised five rescue boats, two boats from the marine division of the Gendarmerie, an aircraft and a civil helicopter. A naval mine sweeper has also been sent to the site to search and recover the black box
The office responsible for enquiring into this type of accident has mobilised a team consisting of five French and two German investigators. They will be joining a team from the Dept of Civ Av (DGAC) and airbus specialists.
Le Figaro say these types of accidents are very rare when an aircraft is going thru maintenance.
The most recent was an Airbus A340 which smash a parapet at Toulouse Airport during an engine test on the ground. Three people were seriously injured.