Parts of the landing gear on the Ansett Dash-8 aircraft which crashed five years ago were to have been replaced, it was disclosed yesterday.
But a South African manufacturer had been unable to fill the order for replacement parts. They did not arrive until three weeks after the accident.
The Dash-8 hit a hill in the Tararua Ranges near Palmerston North in June 1995 while crew were trying to lower the landing gear manually.
A flight attendant and two passengers were killed on impact and a third passenger died of injuries later.
Ansett technical support manager Kelly Fountaine testified about the landing gear at a depositions hearing in the Palmerston North District Court which is considering manslaughter and injury charges against the Dash-8's pilot and captain Garry Sotheran.
Mr Fountaine said there was an established worldwide history of undercarriage landing gear problems with the Dash-8.
There had been problems with lowering the landing gear on both the company's De Havilland Dash-8s.
He said 11 problems with landing gear had been recorded for the two aircraft from the time they entered service in 1986 until the crash - a period comprising some 50,000 landings.
Gear had 'history of faults'
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