'Arrogant' crash agency criticised for Fox Glacier investigation handling

Thursday, 29 October 2015

Wreckage of a skydiving plane lies near the Fox Glacier airstrip after a crash in 2010 that claimed nine lives.

A skydiving plane crash victim's son has criticised the agency handling the investigation for a lack of professionalism and arrogance by refusing to apologise to victims' families.

All nine people on board died when the plane crashed during take-off from the West Coast's Fox Glacier Aerodrome on September 4, 2010.

A report released Thursday found the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) investigation into the crash lacked resources and handled evidence poorly.

Jake Millar, whose father Rod Millar died in the crash, sent open letter to media criticising the press conference held in Wellington on Thursday by TAIC chief commissioner Helen Cull.

Cull told reporters the commission had the benefit of 18 months of 'huge' resources and overseas and local expertise for the review.

'Very little has changed,' she said of the new findings compared to the original report.

However, Millar described Cull's defence of the investigation as 'total nonsense' and 'bureaucratic Government speak to try and make TAIC look professional, when you are anything but professional'.

'You buried significant evidence and then went on to say that the investigation was poorly resourced, ultimately trying to make excuses for your incredibly poor practice,' he said.

'You didn't just bury any evidence either, you buried the control stick. This is outrageous. I heard little acknowledgement to your mistakes [Thursday] afternoon.'

Millar was unhappy no apology would be made to affected families.

'Is it really so hard to say 'we screwed it up big time,and we apologise?'

'Obviously it is, as you went on to say 'the commission does not need to apologise – it has done everything appropriately'.'

Millar believed 'arrogance' prevented an apology being offered.

He was also disappointed he did not receive a copy of the report before the media despite being on the mailing list.

'This is disgusting and totally wrong. In the future you should show more respect to the families of the victims.'

TAIC released its initial report into the fatal crash in May 2012, saying the primary cause was issues with 'weight and balance'.

A year later, a coroner published findings on the same event and instead found the crash was caused by some other, unidentified factor, combined with weight and balance.

Public criticism about the control of wreckage at the site sparked TAIC to commission an independent review of the evidence by aviation expert Bruce Robertson.

In the report released Thursday, TAIC said resourcing at the crash site 'was not adequate', while the control and handling of evidence was 'not as structured and disciplined as it should have been'.

The report noted the investigation was done under 'difficult circumstances', with the investigator in charge being the only TAIC air investigator available that day.

'Our actions are speaking louder than words,' Cull said. 'We have said if there is something wrong with the process, let's look at it and let's review it, let's get more resources.'