Air NZ's 'whoop whoop' questioned

The Air New Zealand advert has been branded as insensitive. Photo / Supplied

A woman whose father died in the Air New Zealand Mt Erebus disaster has questioned the airline's use of the words "whoop whoop" - the last signal that flight crew heard before the DC-10 went down - in its advertising.

An Air NZ advertisement which appeared in the Weekend Herald headed "Let's Party" promotes low airfares. It also uses the words "whoop whoop" at the bottom.

The last recorded message from the ground proximity warning system to the Erebus flight crew contained a "whoop, whoop" warning sound, with the last word being: "Pull ..." The sound of the collision can then be heard and the black box recording ends.

Jayne Holtham's father, Bryan, was on the DC-10 that crashed 31 years ago, killing all 257 crew and passengers. She said the airline's choice of words in its advertisement was insensitive.

"It definitely tugs at the heartstrings. The second you say that, you remember the last few seconds of the flight."

She said the timing was unfortunate, given the airline was organising a second flight for the families of Erebus victims to the crash site in Antarctica.

"It is pretty s*** marketing, obviously they're not even thinking about that," Ms Holtham said. "Someone needs to say 'woops, bad marketing'."

Air NZ spokeswoman Tracy Mills said the reference was to a party phrase and apologised if anyone took offence. In a written statement, she said the phrase "whoop whoop" was used by DJs at parties and Air NZ would be happy to discuss it further with the families of Erebus victims.

Ian Hambley, whose job in 1979 was to talk to those families and return possessions that arrived from Antarctica, puts the mistake down to a young person in marketing who might not even know about the Erebus crash.

"I recently went to the birthday party of an Air NZ manager and there were young Air NZ staff there who had never heard of Erebus."

He said Air NZ advertisements featuring a broadcasting personality saying "Nobody does it better" were pulled after the Erebus crash.

- Edward Gay

FRENCH CRASH REPORT 'FLAWED'

An aviation expert has dismissed an Airbus crash investigator's call for Air New Zealand to pick up its act, saying more blame should be put on French maintenance staff who got water into the aircraft's sensors - ultimately bringing the plane down, he says.

Top aviation writer Geoffrey Thomas, who has been a commentator on the subject for the past 30 years, says the airline was not to blame for the Perpignan crash in 2008.

"It is absolutely not their fault. The issue is very simple and that is that that aeroplane was washed just days before it took off and water was forced into two of the three sensors."

Mr Thomas' comments follow one investigation source's comments that Air New Zealand tried to deflect criticism over the crash.

The sensors "would've crammed probably and then froze, making [them] completely useless ... That's what caused the crash", Mr Thomas said.

"French investigators should have given more weight to the sensors because that is what brought the plane down. The integrity of Air NZ is without question, and to put blame on them is completely wrong."

- Vaimoana Tapaleao