NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Budget 2025
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Airbus pilots screaming in terror - black box report

By Catherine Field and Isaac Davison
NZ Herald·
18 Jan, 2009 03:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

KEY POINTS:

The disturbing last moments of the Air New Zealand Airbus 320 which crashed off southern France on November 27 have been revealed in the first public report of information in the aircraft's black boxes.

As the bodies of four of the five New Zealanders killed in the crash were released by authorities to return home, French investigators described the chilling findings from the two flight recorders.

Perpignan state prosecutor Jean-Pierre Dreno said the pilots "were having a lot of difficulty controlling the plane", and that in their last seconds "they were screaming" as they hit the water.

Mr Dreno told TV3 that as the plane was descending to land, a sudden surge in engine power propelled the Airbus 320 into a steep, upwards climb towards the sky, which was too sharp to recover from.

"First [the plane] goes up, then fell on its side, then it entered the sea...very quickly...with much force."

The investigation, which includes a judicial inquiry for manslaughter, will not be complete until more data from the crash has been collected. Investigators will collect more debris from the southern coast of France next week.

Air New Zealand chief Rob Fyfe said French investigators hoped to have an interim report on the causes of the crash by the end of the month.

The investigation had been delayed because data from the recorder of the voices on the flight deck conflicted with data from the technical recorder, which registers the position of the plane's flaps, trajectory and other flight parameters.

The remains of four of the dead were due to be loaded on board a specially chartered flight this morning at Perpignan, ready for the journey home.

The four were Captain Brian Horrell, 52, from Auckland; Christchurch engineers Michael Gyles, 49, and Noel Marsh, 35; and Jeremy Cook, 58, of Wellington, an airworthiness inspector with the Civil Aviation Authority. A fifth, Auckland engineer Murray White, 37, remains missing.

Two German staff were also killed.

The release of the bodies had been delayed until investigators had acquired sufficient forensic details.

Meanwhile, Mr Fyfe said a string of accidents involving the Airbus A320 had not shaken his faith in the safety of this jet, which became a mainstay of the airline's fleet under a strategic shift six years ago.

In addition to the November 27 A320 crash off southern France, an Air France A321 - the stretched version of the A320 - suffered a brief double-engine stall while flying out of Tunisia on December 14 and last week a US Airways A320 crash-landed on New York's Hudson River after losing power in both engines, apparently due to a bird strike.

Mr Fyfe said nothing so far pointed to a common cause for these accidents and he retained total confidence in the A320.

"This aircraft has been operating for 21 years and has flown more than 40 million flights," he told the Herald from Perpignan where he was accompanying relatives of the victims.

"There is nothing that I have seen that gives me any concern for the safe operation of this aircraft.

"The quality of manufacture, the design standards, that for us is not an issue."

He added: "That's what makes this mystery, as to what caused this accident, even more perplexing. Clearly it is something very unusual and very untoward, given that this aircraft flies around the skies, 4000 of them, every day."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

Premium
Politics

Budget papers reveal 0.5% tax hike on 180k families, considered corporate tax cut

22 May 07:33 AM
Politics

Egregious or reasonable? Economists split over student loan repayment threshold freeze

22 May 07:25 AM
New Zealand|crimeUpdated

St Patrick's Day rape-accused claims woman flirted, talked 'dirty' with him

22 May 07:04 AM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
 Egregious or reasonable? Economists split over student loan repayment threshold freeze
Politics

Egregious or reasonable? Economists split over student loan repayment threshold freeze

22 May 07:25 AM
Kim Jong Un denounces destroyer launch failure as ‘criminal act’
World

Kim Jong Un denounces destroyer launch failure as ‘criminal act’

22 May 07:10 AM
St Patrick's Day rape accused claims woman flirted, talked 'dirty' with him
New Zealand

St Patrick's Day rape accused claims woman flirted, talked 'dirty' with him

22 May 07:04 AM
 The world’s best hotels for book lovers
Travel

The world’s best hotels for book lovers

22 May 07:00 AM
'Most vulnerable are invisible': Northland leaders give Budget 2025 mixed reviews
Northern Advocate

'Most vulnerable are invisible': Northland leaders give Budget 2025 mixed reviews

22 May 06:59 AM

Latest from New Zealand

Premium
Budget papers reveal 0.5% tax hike on 180k families, considered corporate tax cut

Budget papers reveal 0.5% tax hike on 180k families, considered corporate tax cut

22 May 07:33 AM

The Government considered a 5 percentage point cut to the corporate tax rate.

 Egregious or reasonable? Economists split over student loan repayment threshold freeze

Egregious or reasonable? Economists split over student loan repayment threshold freeze

22 May 07:25 AM
St Patrick's Day rape accused claims woman flirted, talked 'dirty' with him

St Patrick's Day rape accused claims woman flirted, talked 'dirty' with him

22 May 07:04 AM
How Manu Vatuvei is rebuilding his life after prison and drug scandal

How Manu Vatuvei is rebuilding his life after prison and drug scandal

22 May 06:51 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search