Earlier today Skyline Gondola operator and eyewitness Malcolm Officer was grilled under cross-examination by defence lawyer Matthew Muir.
Officer, a prosecution witness, says he saw low-lying cloud that covered Deer Park Heights and maintained his certainty despite being shown CCTV footage from Queenstown Airport that indicated the hill was in full view at the time of take-off.
Officer says he saw the aircraft disappearing into cloud as it turned above Deer Park Heights.
Muir suggested Officer’s observations could be wrong after he was presented with official data that conflicted with his accounts.
Pilots must maintain visual clearance between leaving the airport and arriving at an altitude point between The Remarkables mountain range and Deer Park Heights.
Interesting...