Pilot was 'accident waiting to happen'

Michael Bannerman was a dangerous pilot who took too many risks and left passengers fearing for their lives, witnesses have told a Christchurch inquest.

Yet the Air Adventures pilot was allowed to continue to fly until he crashed his aircraft, killing himself and seven other people.

Yesterday, the Press newspaper was party to High Court proceedings that lifted suppression orders banning publication of details of Mr Bannerman's chequered flying record.

For the first time it can be revealed:

* A CAA medical assessor who flew with Mr Bannerman several times believed he was "an accident waiting to happen".

* A group of businessmen who flew with Mr Bannerman between Christchurch and Takaka feared for their lives after he became lost and the plane ran out of fuel and was forced to make an unscheduled landing.

* Mr Bannerman boasted of his close calls during drinking sessions.

He and seven Crop & Food executives were killed in June 2003 when his Piper Chieftain crashed short of Christchurch Airport.

At the reconvened inquest into the deaths yesterday, former Kiwi Dairies executive Timothy Bunnett recounted how a trip between Christchurch and Takaka he and three other company executives took with Mr Bannerman turned into the flight from hell.

The trip should have taken two hours but took four after Mr Bannerman got lost - at one stage emerging from the clouds near Mt Cook.

The passengers sat in the plane as it flew blindly above the cloud from Christchurch, over to the West Coast, back across the Southern Alps to within 15m of the Kaikoura ranges.

It then went up the coast to the Marlborough Sounds and finally landed at Nelson Airport to refuel.

The group of businessmen were left shaken and thankful for their lives.

"There was no conversation with the pilot," said Mr Bunnett, who is now national manager at Fonterra.

"I recall seeing him looking at books ... at that stage we all knew we were lost."

While in flight, Mr Bunnett joked with his colleagues that he would "take confessions", so fearful were the group that Mr Bannerman would not get them to Takaka safely.

Dr Susan Newton, an anaesthetist with a mobile surgery unit, flew with Mr Bannerman at least five times. Twice, she said, she feared for her life.

A CAA medical assessor and the wife of a commercial helicopter pilot, Dr Newton had knowledge of the aviation industry.

She told the court Mr Bannerman frightened her when the pair traversed the Southern Alps on a flight from Greymouth to Invercargill.

As they flew over Mount Cook, the wings began to ice up. Knowing the plane had no anti-icing solution on its wings, she told Mr Bannerman she was scared. He assured her everything was fine.

Mr Bannerman frightened her again when she and a group of colleagues flew into Westport at night. The airport has no runway lights, and Dr Newton questioned the safety of the flight before they left Christchurch at dusk.

"His standard answer to everything was, 'It will be fine'."

The plane landed illegally in Westport using reflectors on the edge of the runway, reserved only for emergencies.

Dr Newton drove back to Christchurch and refused to fly with Mr Bannerman again.

After the Crop & Food tragedy, she told police Mr Bannerman was "an accident waiting to happen".

Dr Newton did not report her concerns to the Civil Aviation Authority.

Evidence heard in court shows the "close calls" were boasted about by Mr Bannerman during Friday night drinks at Air Adventures.

Pilot Dennis Hill told the court there was a culture of bravado, where Mr Bannerman would drink red wine and recount his close calls: a landing in Alex "Grizz" Wylie's paddock in North Canterbury; the near miss with a deer fence at Haast.

Mr Hill said Air Adventures lacked a culture of "safety and responsibility" and so, in 1999, he quit.


- NZPA