Air Crash Investigation Doco NZ

A look into two Aircraft Crashes in Fiordland National Park New Zealand.
Trevor Green and Marty Black, Squirrel Helicopter and Cessna Sea Plane of 2002
and the search and recover operation.

[@stellalumia]

Agreed! My volume is sitting at 25/100 and I can hear it fine. Thank you up loader, nice to see something 'local-ish ( I'm in Australia ) for a change.

[@robinfautley8698]

I have just come across this video. It was instructive to see how the investigators dealt with the crashes. I was one of the last passengers of Brian Chadwicks Air Charters. In Feb 1962 he went missing between Christchurch and Milford in the DH90 dragonfly and never found. Just a couple of weeks before I flew in the other Air Charters plane the DH89 ZK-BCP. That flight was filmed by my parents and I have posted some if it on KZbin courtesy of the Reeves of Whitebusfamily. It showed how Chadwick flew. Except for one instance, although he flew lower than they are allowed now around Tasman and Cook etc., he was super smooth and an exceptional pilot. I wonder what these inspectors would make of my film? It is the only film of this pilot and probably the only film taken in 8mm in those times of flying through the Southern Alps before super 8 and the modern video cameras were available. I believe that if these inspectors were to see all of my film, they would be able to learn a lot more about Chadwick and perhaps identify the likely areas where the crash site may be. The 100 foot tall beech trees virtually hid the helicopter. As for the floatplane, the crash site was not obvious at all due to the fragmentation. However, the DH90 was wooden and structural integrity far more likely in a crash. Chadwick was only doing what Air NZ was doing at Erebus - it was just the difference in scale. There was so much the could have been learnt from the Erebus accident report had that been done correctly initially but there was too much money hanging on the result. The rest is history they say - but until the memorial has been built - and it is now 43 years later, there is little closure for so many and the families. The subsequent accident reports of the Inspector concerned need to be reviewed. There were too many “mistakes” in the original accident report on Erebus.

[@richybarnicle901]

Hi, Mike The sounds is perfect. even checked spots out on the video twice. all good.

[@nzsaltflatsracer8054]

Their finding on the float plane crash was correct. You never cross a ridge square on, always at an angle so if you encounter a downdraft or an eddie you can turn away. A reverse air flow eddie will also increase the ground speed. He hit the ridge square on into the prevailing wind with a normally operating aircraft. Pilot error!

[@vckrscindy]

Volume seems fine to me as well.

[@fractalnomics]

Had some of the most wonderful days of my life flying around with Trevor Green: drop offs at Big River, many ins in outs from the Hump Ridge, top pilot, top guy.

[@granskare]

my wife and I flew a floatplane tour at Ketchikan Alaska a few years ago and I do not recall our pilot flying too low or too close to terrain....but that was not Fjordland or a place where sheer cliffs are encountered...

[@leslieslovelies6268]

Why isn’t the aircraft painted other than white if it’s difficult to detect?

[@owenmitchell1986]

Flying in this part of New Zealand can be compared to bush flying in Alaska, except most parts are sheer cliffs and fjords...

[@dixie002]

Bill Black, passed away a few weeks ago RIP

[@getdusty1]

Michael Day, YOU need to look into your problems. There's nothing wrong with the volume!!

[@smurfra12]

Strange how 2 different investigations are entwined!

[@deweywatts8456]

2 aircraft funtioning normally at time of crash. Makes looking elsewhere seem logical, whether factual or not.

[@guynextfloor]

The reason it's not like other ACI episodes because it's not ACI.

[@robin2012ism]

Yeah it's low but with headphones and a quiet place, I can just hear.

[@michaelday7377]

thanks

[@mattbourgaize8858]

Nobody wants to believe pilot error, especially families. The fact is they are human and do make mistakes.

[@catlady8324]

What? Huh? Volume is too low, can't hear a bloody thing mate!

[@fjordland]

Sorry, I didn't know it is a problem Will look into it...

[@michaelday7377]

Anychance u can re-do this with the volume a little higher please?

[@ashleyarchitect]

This was fascinating, because it wasn't a reconstruction like other similar ACI programs, it was the real thing, plus in-your-face interviews with the key players, who are not always on the same side. It's Important that lessons are learned, because NZ is an absolutely beautiful and spectacular country, and generally has a first-class tourist industry, which shouldn't be spoiled by compromises on safety. That said, part of the excitement of exploring wild NZ comes from risk, which we must accept

[@rebeccaryan100]

The sound coming through on my system is very low. Any way to make it louder?

[@TAZ0300]

Rebecca Ryan Buy a better tablet

[@richybarnicle901]

Hi Dave, Couldn't have said it better.

[@jonathanday6692]

The white used on paint cannot easily be seen by eye against the white of snow, but even back in 2002, there were filters that could distinguish, handheld spectrometers that could positively identify paint and LiDAR for light aircraft that could locate aircraft buried under deep snow. You shouldn't have even one aircraft in a valley that had "never been found". The air accident investigators knew what they were doing, but weren't as well equipt as they needed to be to do their job well. To be fair, though, you can always do more and planes don't crash that often. It is by far the safest form of travel. You'd need some complex support service that supplied lots of people to make it remotely workable. But legal and political constraints make shared services difficult in other ways. No easy answers there. All commercially operated aircraft of any size should have three black boxes, one voice cockpit, one measuring instruments and control inputs by pilots, one recording what the aircraft is, in fact, doing. Current standards assume an aircraft and its controls are in agreement, not always a smart move and means all the data is vulnerable at a single point. Cessnas and other very light aircraft aren't required to record anything, making accident investigations absolute murder. People die because, somewhere along the line, it's believed a more affordable option than doing things right. That seems wrong to me. I'd move to New Zealand and develop these solutions for the various agencies if there was interest.

[@motomic84]

+Jonathan Day take it fro me we sure don't need u to come hear with your hare-brained plans to rectify the industry. For a start u don't seem to know that the Flight Data Recorder is used for data from control inputs, the resulting actions of the control surfaces engine responses etc, multiple instuments etc along with aircraft attitudes such as pitch roll yaw was it climbing or descending and so on. The Cockpit Voice Recorder even to you must be self explanatory so what is this 3rd box you plan on developing to do? As for the ridiculous statement about combing the snow with a hand held spectrometer to find a small piece of metal with white paint on snow unless the search area was the size of a couple of mall carparks how long are u planning to spend searching in this case a huge area of mountainous terrain from 12000ft pretty well to sea level that has hundreds of crevassed glaciers ravines and so on. Try Google earth and check out Fiordland National Park form above to get an idea. Finally if it was mandatory to fit every small commercial aircraft with FDRs and CVRs the cost would be impossible for most small operators unless passed to passengers who would then be only those tourists with very fat wallets and the industry would collapse. I'm sure that like everything technology will eventually allow such equipment to become affordable for all small aircraft but i wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that day. And your other equally ridiculous statement suggesting LIDAR be used and no plane will go unfound buried beneath snow apart from the light years required to search area as mentioned above with a laser not sure how u figure it not going to ignore any object apart from your lost plane. Maybe u mean gound penetrating radar they use in geological surveys which if so then yes maybe there is an opening for u down here as the guy that going to be on the ground dragging a sled with such equipment all over the Southern Alps including one would hope each and every crevasse.

[@jonathanday6692]

No, you would not use GPR. Completely the wrong technology. You are not considering the dielectric properties. In fact, you don't seem to be considering a whole lot. Let's be blunt, you like flammage because you get to sound knowledgeable. I'm not wasting my time explaining geophysical surveying techniques, the instrumentation we used at LaRC, or the correct way for an engineer to instrument critical systems. It is beneath me to teach those who already know all the answers. It is perfectly true that you don't need me to do anything. Nor would I waste my time doing things for someone like you. I can do nothing for those who insist that they are some sort of god. Gods can fend for themselves, I restrict myself to helping people.

[@67466476]

Good headsets would help mate :)

[@branon6565]

It'd be nice if the vid had some sound...

[@bermudaguy1]

They should make these aircraft out of the same stuff they make the 'black boxes'!

[@leslieslovelies6268]

bermudaguy1 George Carlin said that in 1992.

[@MrNipperthedog]

After a year in NZ, these people are very sharp. TVNZ not so much so. Basic editing, good sound mixing. I wish TVNZ would hire some Yanks from California to improve production.

[@karlmnz]

this was produced in the early 2000's. It's a very old show. Its 4:3 SD. We have some fairly high level production in new zealand now, with some highly skilled crew. We produce at an international level. We even do that new fangled 5.1 surround and the Widescreen HiDeffy stuff..:) This is also an astonishingly bad quality dub that was then uploaded.

[@MrNipperthedog]

Good enough mate. I miss NZ and hope to be buried there. You folks have it good. Enjoy your lives there. Matt

[@gregeichelberger5365]

I don't know. No disrespect to those who perished in this crash, but I would much rather see a documentary on the New Zealand DC-10 that flew into Mt. Erabus in the Antartic. I think THAT would make a complelling program.

[@LostCloudx4]

There are a few docos on that

[@owenmitchell1986]

From the date this aired in NZ mate volume and picture quality to reproduce wouldn't be the best ...

[@michaelday7377]

YEP!!!

[@ONCESAVEDALWAYSSAVED123]

Your not trying to find out WHY the crash occured.You are busy gathering info to blame the Pilot.There is a clear difference.

[@barrysmith824]

What we all need to know is why Jesus didn’t save them.

[@dlakodlak]

They wouldn't fly.

[@davidrahfeldt]

plain and simple stupidity and irresponsibility on the part of the pilot. nothing complex here ... an adult child yelling yee-hah and enjoying scaring the crap out of his passengers ... and it caught up with him. That he would die for his folly is fine, that he would destroy someone else s aircraft, put rescuers at risk and kill his passengers ... certainly is not OK. Someone at the operator should have shut him down and terminated him, and found another pilot.

[@louiekiwi]

Beware those who are commissioned to find fault. They will find fault, otherwise it looks like they are not doing their jobs. Pretty far fetched to come to this conclusion.

[@AviationNut]

If you take risks sooner or later it's gone bite you in the ass. But still they should not blame the pilot, just because they can't find the cause of the crash. Pilots are always blamed if they can't find the cause of the crash, because they have to blame something and might as well be the dead pilot that can't defend himself, which i say is complete bullshit to blame the dead pilot when you're not 100% sure.