Air NZ Staff Named Publicly
LATEST: Three of the five New Zealand victims from this morning's Airbus crash off the coast of France have been named.
They are: Captain Brian Horrell, 52, of Auckland; Murray White, 37, engineer, of Auckland; Michael Gyles, 49, engineer, of Christchurch.
The name of a fourth Air New Zealand observer will be released later today once family have been notified. A fifth New Zealander - a Wellington based CAA expert - was also on the flight but is still to be identified.
Seven people - including two German pilots - were onboard the Air New Zealand Airbus A320 when it crashed into the Mediterranean, just off Perpignan in southeast France, about 4.45am (NZ time) today. It had been on a test flight - involving several maneuvers - ahead of a return to New Zealand.
French daily Le Monde reported three bodies had been found. All seven crew were presumed dead.
A choked up Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Rob Fyfe told a press conference this afternoon that he had spoken to the partners of each of the missing men.
"This is an unbelievably difficult time for the families of those who are missing. I conveyed to them my deepest sympathies and those of all Air New Zealanders as we await further information on their loved ones.
"I was also able to re-assure them that Air New Zealand is receiving the full support of the New Zealand Government and the Search and Rescue authorities in France and we are confident that everything is being done to locate those still missing."
Fyfe described today as the toughest day in his career. He will travel to France later today with the family of at least one of the Kiwi victims. Other families are considering their options.
Air New Zealand deputy chief executive Norm Thompson left for France about midday and Fyfe expected to follow later today. England-based Air New Zealand management were also en route.
Fyfe said Prime Minister John Key had offered his full support. The level of cooperation with French authorities was very good, with most communication now happening through Government channels.
CRASH WITNESS
The plane was seen flying low over the French Mediterranean shortly before the crash. It had taken off from Perpignan Airport and had reportedly carried out a touch-and-go landing before heading for Frankfurt, Germany, when it plunged into the sea.
Lydie Benedicte, who works on the information desk at Perpignan Airport, told ABC radio that the plane had dipped down into the sea very quickly.
"The aircraft crashed direct,'' she told the station. "It's not far from the airport. That's why the aircraft was not very high in the sky … that's why a lot of people saw the crash near the coast of Cannes.''
SEARCH
Jean Dunyach, head of Civil Security at the Prefecture in Perpignan, told Stuff.co.nz that the search for survivors would resume at 5am local time (5pm today, NZ time) when specialist divers would be sent in.
“Unfortunately, the conditions are very difficult, it is raining, there are 30kms of wind with big waves and operations have been complicated further because it is now dark,” he said in a telephone interview.
The water temperature in the area was believed to be about 13C.
He did not believe there were any survivors. The bodies already recovered had been transferred to the morgue at Perpignan Hospital, where a member of the French Transport Ministry, Dominique Bussereau, was expected tomorrow.
“It is a difficult night for the rescuers … the remaining bodies may well be in pieces.”
Mr Dunyach said the maximum had been done to locate the missing crew members, with five rescue boats, 17 specialised divers, a helicopter and a search aeroplane scouring the scene. Thirty divers were expected tomorrow when he hoped the black box would be retrieved from the wrecked aircraft, currently 40m underwater.
He said the New Zealand and German embassies had been told of the accident and families were being informed.
"It is too early to speculate about the reasons for the crash, only the black box can tell us."
There was a strong feeling of solidarity amongst the local fishermen from the Le Cannet en Roussillon area, as they had been asked to help in the rescue effort.
Better weather was forecast for Friday (French time), and although some were quite shocked by what had happened they were only too happy to lend assistance, he said.
Earlier, a French journalist had said searchers battled the dark and strong wind and rain to find survivors.
"It's not really clear on what happened … the plane was flying for one hour and a half and suddenly fell down to the sea," he told Radio New Zealand.
"There was no explosion, it was flying (at) 300m and suddenly fell down into the sea, but no explosion."
There were many witnesses, and emergency services were quickly at the scene.
Some wreckage was floating on the surface, but the pieces were "very difficult to find because of the big waves and the dark".
SOMBRE MOOD
The mood at Air New Zealand and CAA headquarters in Wellington was sombre today, as staff waited for news from France.
The aircraft was owned by Air New Zealand and had been on lease to German charter company XL Airways for the past two years. It was four years old when delivered and had flown for Freedom Air for about a year before being leased.
Fyfe said it was being flown to Frankfurt, where it was due to be handed back for a ferry flight to New Zealand this week.
"Naturally, this is an extremely difficult time for us all and the full resources of the airline are being put into investigating what may have happened and providing support to our people and their families," he said.
"I certainly haven't given up hope … I'm hopeful there still may be survivors." However, he acknowledge searchers' hope was fading.
“Here at Air New Zealand it's a really tight-knit team and people are feeling ... a deep concern at the moment.
"It's a very, very difficult time when there's any possibility that any of our colleagues have been hurt ... or potentially killed."
Fyfe said Air New Zealand was drawing on the experiences of other airlines that had been in similar situations before.
The Air New Zealand pilot on the flight was a very experienced captain, "which is typically what we want when we are going through one of these acceptance processes. We have our most experienced people ensuring the aircraft is up to Air New Zealand standards".
Several staff were waiting in Frankfurt, Germany, to take over the aircraft on its flight back to New Zealand.
The crash comes 29 years to the day that an Air New Zealand DC10 crashed into Mt Erebus, killing all 257 passengers and crew.
Mr Fyfe said that today was already very poignant for Air New Zealand because of the Erebus tragedy, and the anniversary added a new dimension to the tragedy.
AVIATION AUTHORITIES
CAA spokesman Bill Sommer said the authority was still waiting on confirmation there had been no survivors, and the names of the people involved.
"Till that happens we won't be making any comment," he said.
The CAA investigator, believed to have been from Wellington, was in France to recertify the plane for its return to New Zealand. The certification engineer was on the trip as part of the process by which aircraft was handed over from the European operator.
The CAA was not involved in investigating the crash, which he expected was being led by French authorities with German assistance.
However, the deputy chief investigator of the Transport Air Investigation Commission, Ken Mathews, would head to the crash site to support the French investigation. Two officials from the NZ Embassy in Paris are also en route.
Aviation and Marine Engineers Association national secretary George Ryde said all engineers on temporary assignment in France were association members.
The mood among its members was "sombre", he said.
"People want information to help them deal with it," Mr Ryde said.
So far there were no clues as to what went wrong with the flight, he said.
The association would be offering support "in any way we can" to the family, friends and colleagues of those who perished in the crash, he said.
Mr Ryde said there were about eight Air New Zealand engineers on temporary assignment in France.
AIRBUS
The jet had been undergoing servicing at EAS Industries in Perpignan and flying circuits for 90 minutes before it crashed, an emergency services spokesman said.
Six French aviation accident investigators and two from Germany were being sent to help an inquiry with experts from the French civil aviation authority (DGAC) and Airbus.
Airbus said it delivered the jet in July 2005 and it had carried out 2800 flights with about 7000 hours of use since then. The constructor gave no details of the accident.
There are about 3700 A320 jets in service with almost 3000 more to be delivered. Air New Zealand own two Airbus aircraft, and lease 10.
Their average age is four years, and they seat about 150 passengers.
- with agencies