Michael Guerin: Dash 8 Down: The inside story of Ansett flight 703

By PETER DAWSON

At 0922 on June 9, 1995, Ansett Flight 703 crashed into the foothills of the Tararua Ranges. Three passengers and one crew member died.

Six years later Captain Garry Sotheran was in court, charged with manslaughter and injury. Michael Guerin was there too, sitting through seven days of deposition hearings and the following six-week trial.

A retired airline pilot with more than 40 years in aviation, he interviewed many people who were involved that day, including air traffic controllers, rescue workers, hospital staff and many of the passengers, as well as the police who undertook the subsequent investigation.

He records in detail the to-ing and fro-ing between prosecution and defence over the admissibility of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) evidence. New Zealand is a signatory to the Chicago Convention which does not permit CVR evidence to be used for criminal prosecution. Despite protests by professional pilots, it was eventually allowed at the trial. A first worldwide, this was noted with interest and some dismay in international aviation circles.

The book is well researched, well written and largely jargon-free. Where aviation terminology has been used, it is explained clearly and concisely. Guerin states that his "intention was not to stand in judgment, but simply to record an aviation tragedy which might otherwise have been lost to posterity". There is, however, more than a hint of partiality towards the prosecution in the latter stages of the story.

The book concludes with seven appendices of supporting documents and letters. Minuscule and often smudged type makes them hard to read and they are in some cases a little repetitive, but they provide useful additional information.

Sotheran was found not guilty, but the evidence revealed that pilot distraction played a part in the accident and Dash 8 Down serves as a salutary read for any pilot who may undervalue the importance of cockpit resource management (CRM).

CRM trains crews in the importance of splitting duties when a problem arises, so one pilot concentrates on flying the plane while the other attends to the malfunction.

It was developed after a Lockheed L1011 flew into the Everglades in Florida at night, its crew so sidetracked by a possible warning-light fault that they failed to monitor the plane's flight path.

It is clear that a lack of good CRM was a factor in the crash. Guerin details the steps Ansett NZ later took to beef up its safety procedures. Given that the airline no longer exists, it's academic. But every pilot can learn from the string of small failures that led to the crash of Flight 703.

Random House

$24.95

* Peter Dawson is a retired Air New Zealand B 747-400 captain.