Company director fined $64,000 four years after fatal Fox Glacier helicopter crash
Friday, 17 May 2019
A $64,000 fine has been imposed after guilty pleas to health and safety charges arising after a fatal helicopter crash at Fox Glacier in 2015.
Queenstown man Mitchell Paul Gameren was piloting a Fox & Franz Josef Heliservices helicopter when he and six others were killed in a crash during an Alpine Adventures scenic flight over the Westland National Park glacier just before 11am on November 21, 2015.
Fox & Franz Heliservices owner James Scott has pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to take all practical steps to keep his employees safe. Aviation Manual Development (2009) Ltd owned by Barry Waterland, who was the company's health and safety manager, also pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations.
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Gameren had safely landed the AS350 Squirrel helicopter at a designated spot called The Chancellor. He then took off and was headed headed back to base when the helicopter crashed. No mayday call was received.
The others who died in the crash were Brits Andrew Virco, 50, Katharine Walker, 51, Nigel Edwin Charlton, 66, Cynthia Charlton, 70, and Australians Sovannmony Leang, 27, and Josephine Gibson, 29.
The Civil Aviation Authority submitted there were eight practicable steps that should have been taken to ensure the safety of employees and passengers. These were in technical areas, as well as training, weight and balance, and supervision. The defendants had 'departed from established and clear industry guidelines'.
It was accepted that the various failings 'did not cause the crash', the judge said as the hearing began.
Family members of the tourists were either present in court or watching by video-link from other parts of the world. Several people read victim impact statements.
A family member of the Charltons said earlier guilty pleas would have shortened the period of distress felt by the family. She called for a change in the attitude to health and safety in the New Zealand leisure industry.
Another family member spoke of there having been an egregious and systemic failure in the regard for safety regulations.
Scott has already paid $125,000 as a voluntary reparations payment to each family who lost members in the crash – a total of $875,000.
He said he was very sorry to the families for what happened and had been willing to meet them at a restorative justice meeting.
Garth Gallaway, counsel for Scott, said it was important to note his client not facing any charges that alleged 'causation or contribution to the tragedy that is the accident'.
Scott had accepted responsibility by pleading guilty, he said.
Counsel of Aviation Manual Development Ltd, Doug Taffs, said the major shareholder and company director Barry Waterland did not seek to minimise the matter, but the company simply could not pay at all.
He regretted what had happened. Because of action taken by the CAA, the company had been moribund and unable to make any money since 2017.
After deductions for mitigating factors, Judge Phillips imposed a fine of $64,000 on Scott but no fine for Aviation Manual Development Ltd because of its inability to pay.
NO CLOSURE FOR FAMILY
Gameren's brother Brett Gameren said he was frustrated with the helicopter industry, which he felt had too many crashes over the past decade.
A draft report released to the family by Transport Accident Investigation Commission did not provide any answers for the crash, he said.
'At the moment they touch on different things but nothing has been confirmed. When it comes to the crash itself we don't know a heck of a lot to what caused it,' he said.
Gameren said his brother was 'an amazing guy', a good cook and a perfectionist with a gift of the gab and a strong connection to his family.
Mitchell Gameren was born in Queenstown before moving to Invercargill, where he completed high school.
He started learning to fly, initially fixed wing planes, at 16. He did about 50 flying hours but did not sit for his private licence.
After a stint labouring, he began training to fly helicopters in Nelson.
After completing his required flying hours in Te Anau, he got a job as a loader in Fox Glacier. He worked there for two seasons before securing a flying job in Botswana.
He also spent six months flying medivac helicopters in Malaysia and Borneo.
His long-term plan was to return to live in Queenstown.
'We were supposed to retire together. Go fishing,' Brett Gameren said.
'It's more than just the main loss, it's the next 40 years. We're never going to get it back no matter what anyone says.'
Brett Gameren and a group of friends climb Ben Lomond mountain overlooking Queenstown on the anniversary of his brother's death and on his birthday.