A dispute between two of the country's largest tourism aviation companies has unveiled a litany of safety claims over helicopter maintenance issues.
While a recent High Court case was essentially about contract law obligations, 24 safety-related incidents from 2008-13 were cited during the trial.
These ranged from Airwork staff leaving rags near an engine compartment, loose tools under seating, to missing bolts in assemblies, incorrectly sleeved blades and the illegal use of imported ex-military chopper blades.
Queenstown-based The Helicopter Line (THL) was more than halfway through a 20-year lease of eight twin-engined helicopters from Auckland-based Airwork Holdings, which also services the craft, when THL grounded the fleet, citing a list of documented safety concerns.
The THL fleet operates throughout the South Island, largely around mountainous and remote terrain, carrying domestic and international tourists to destinations including Mt Cook, Milford Sound and the West Coast's glaciers.
THL and Airwork's dispute ended up in the High Court at Invercargill with Judge Gerald Nation releasing his 196-page judgement this week.
While endeavouring to establish if THL was contractually liable to Airwork, Judge Nation examined the 24 "incidents'', largely compiled by THL against Airwork's Queenstown-based helicopter maintenance programme.
At the contractual level, Judge Nation found against THL and imposed a more than $2 million payment to Airwork, plus unspecified interest payments. THL may yet appeal that decision.
In defining THL's reasons for cancelling the contract, Judge Nation commented at length on one of the more serious and well-documented incidents in his judgement summary: a helicopter left stranded on a ledge hundreds of metres above Gorilla Stream, near Mt Cook.
Judge Nation said the engineering failings associated with the Gorilla Creek incident had "created serious avoidable risks, including a risk of fatalities, for all those who had been in the aircraft''.
He said the overall evidence of incidents satisfied him that after July 2013, THL's directors "were justified in deciding there was too great a risk for THL's pilots, passengers and the business to continue operating Heli Holdings' [subsidiary of Airwork] aircraft''.
"They had genuinely lost the confidence and trust in Heli Holdings/Airwork which they needed to continue flying Heli Holdings' aircraft,'' Judge Nation said.
Airwork and THL executives said this week they would not be commenting further, given the decision could still be appealed.
Aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Authority, which was not called as a witness during the High Court proceedings, was understood to have been advised of some of the 24 incidents.
The CAA was contacted yesterday and said it intended responding to questions from the ODT after reviewing the judgement.
