The Pacific Blue pilot found to have carelessly flown out of Queenstown in 2010 will be sentenced in the Queenstown District Court today.
The 55-year-old commercial airline pilot from Auckland faces losing his commercial pilot's licence and a maximum fine of up to $7000. Judge Kevin Phillips earlier this month issued written findings on the charge and concluded the pilot, who has interim name suppression, was careless in his operation of the aircraft and that he ''occasioned unnecessary endangerment to the passengers, the crew and the aircraft itself''. Civil Aviation Authority records show that since 1998 there have been 33 careless operation charges leading to conviction. However, the CAA holds no record of a commercial passenger airline pilot being convicted.
Judge Phillips' verdict follows the June 22, 2010, flight and a four-week hearing held over four months last year.
He found the defendant breached Pacific Blue's evening civil twilight departure allowance time of 5.14pm; had left Queenstown for Sydney in poor light conditions; had breached industry requirements by not having a suitable contingency plan; and should not have taken off. He concluded the CAA's allegations that the pilot flew in cloud below the minimum altitude and in a heavy crosswind and failed to prepare an anti-ice increment were also correct. The pilot was flying a Boeing 737 carrying 64 passengers and five crew bound for Sydney. Before the incident, the pilot's commercial career comprised 16,043 hours' total flying time, of which 6000 hours were spent flying a Boeing 737, and 30 years' experience flying in and out of Queenstown.
