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
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • 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

Fox Glacier helicopter crash pilot was not properly trained for his role

Melissa Nightingale
By Melissa Nightingale
Senior Reporter, NZ Herald - Wellington·NZ Herald·
23 May, 2019 02:03 AM5 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

Who they were - faces of the seven people killed in the tragic 2015 helicopter crash in Fox Glacier.

The pilot killed alongside six tourists in a scenic helicopter flight at Fox Glacier was not adequately trained and may have misjudged how high above the terrain he was, an investigation has found.

The helicopter was found to have flown straight into the glacier, and throughout the flight the overall weight of the craft almost certainly exceeded the maximum permitted weight.

The investigation revealed the helicopter struck the glacier surface with a "high forward speed and a high rate of descent, with the engine delivering power".

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) today published its final report on the November 2015 crash, saying the operator's pilot training system did not fully prepare the pilot for his role.

Queenstown pilot Mitch Gameren, 28, and six tourists were killed when the Alpine Adventures' AS350 Squirrel helicopter he was flying on a scenic trip plunged into a deep crevasse in the glacier on November 21, 2015.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The tourists were Australians Sovannmony Leang, 27, and Josephine Gibson, 29, as well as Cynthia Charlton, 70, husband Nigel Charlton, 66, Andrew Virco, 50, and his partner Katharine Walker, 51, all from the UK.

TAIC found it was unlikely any mechanical failure was a factor in the crash. Although not all of the wreckage was recovered, an examination of what they did find revealed no pre-existing failure.

It did find the weather conditions in the area were particularly likely to have been below the minimum criteria required by civil aviation rules.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The investigation also revealed the company had been allowed to continue operating with little or no intervention from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), despite it having identified significant issues.

"The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) identified significant non-compliances with the operator's training system and with managerial oversight prior to the accident," TAIC chief commissioner Jane Meares said.

"However, the CAA did not intervene and the operator was allowed to continue providing helicopter air operations."

On Monday, the CAA announced at a press conference they had overhauled the way they trained and recruited helicopter operations inspectors after discovering their officers were taking a "soft approach" to the job and had been misled by operators.

Discover more

New Zealand

Chopper crash that killed 7: Grieving pilot's family speak out on safety

22 Apr 05:00 PM
New Zealand

Fox Glacier helicopter crash: Owner pays families $125k each and apologises

17 May 04:54 AM
New Zealand

Fatal flight operators misled investigators: CAA

19 May 10:32 PM
New Zealand

The faces of the seven victims who died in horrific Fox Glacier helicopter crash

22 May 05:00 PM

Today, Meares said the CAA inspectors had "overlooked" and failed to raise findings on "significant non-compliances with civil aviation rules" in the case of the operator of the Fox Glacier accident helicopter.

"The Commission is concerned that there could be a wider safety issue whereby other civil aviation operators during the same period could have significant non-compliances that were not identified or not resolved," she said.

After discovering this, TAIC recommended the CAA independently review its past surveillance activities, which it did.

The report into the crash said the helicopter was expected to take a 20-minute flight that day. The weather was "cloudy and changeable".

It was reported overdue at 10.15am and a subsequent search revealed its wreckage on the glacier just below Chancellor Shelf.

The weather conditions were "unsuitable" for conducting a scenic flight, the report said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It is very likely that when the helicopter took off from Chancellor Shelf and descended down the valley, the pilot's perception of the helicopter's height above the terrain was affected," it said.

Factors such as cloud, precipitation, flat light conditions, and condensation on the front windscreen could have affected this.

"The Commission found that the pilot had not been properly trained and did not have the appropriate level of experience expected under the operator's categorisation scheme for a senior pilot in this type of operation.

"The operator's system for training its pilots was ill-defined and did not comply fully with the civil aviation rules."

Other findings included that the tail rotor servo had exceeded the maximum flight hours permitted before overhaul, though that was unlikely to have contributed to the crash.

"The operator's training system did not have sufficient oversight by the designated senior persons. This was a factor that allowed the pilot to be assigned roles and responsibilities without the proper training and experience."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Commission opens an inquiry when it believes the circumstances of an accident or incident have - or are likely to have - significant implications for transport safety, or when the inquiry may allow the Commission to make findings or recommendations to improve transport safety.

After the crash, CAA suspended the Air Operating Certificate (AOC) of Alpine Adventures' managing director and owner James Patrick Scott, grounding his 15-strong helicopter fleet.

In 2016, the CAA charged Scott and quality assurance manager Barry Waterland's company, Aviation Manual Development (2009) Ltd under the Health and Safety in Employment Act legislation.

Scott and Aviation Manual Development pleaded guilty to failing to take all practicable steps to ensure no action or inaction of any employee while at work harmed any other person. The maximum penalty is a $250,000 fine.

They pleaded guilty on the basis their failings had not caused the crash.

Scott has made voluntary reparation payments of $125,000 to each of the seven families, totalling $875,000.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He was also fined $64,000 by the court.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

Crime

Mongrel Mob mum jailed after going into hiding during daughter's murder trial

11 May 07:00 AM
Crime

Wilhelmina Shrimpton shares update after car sideswiped in Kingsland

New Zealand

Ferry crew member confirmed as new Auckland measles case

11 May 06:49 AM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Mongrel Mob mum jailed after going into hiding during daughter's murder trial

Mongrel Mob mum jailed after going into hiding during daughter's murder trial

11 May 07:00 AM

Kelly-Anne Burns never returned after being granted short-term bail to attend a funeral.

Wilhelmina Shrimpton shares update after car sideswiped in Kingsland

Wilhelmina Shrimpton shares update after car sideswiped in Kingsland

 Ferry crew member confirmed as new Auckland measles case

Ferry crew member confirmed as new Auckland measles case

11 May 06:49 AM
64 Auckland beaches flagged as unsafe for swimming

64 Auckland beaches flagged as unsafe for swimming

11 May 05:52 AM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

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