New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association (NZALPA) President Captain Andrew Ridling said today that NZALPA was “extremely disappointed” at the comments made by the TAIC Chief Investigator of Accidents, Naveen Kozhuppakalam, in relation to the Air New Zealand B777 incident during Friday night’s extreme weather event.

“The Chief Investigator’s premature conclusion that the pilot “lost control” as the flight landed on the Auckland International Airport runway is in contravention to the Standards and Recommended Practice of aircraft incidents as promulgated in ICAO Annex 13,” Captain Ridling said.

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“The sole objective of the investigation of an accident or incident shall be the prevention of accidents and incidents. It is not the purpose of this activity to apportion blame or liability”. (ICAO Annex 13 3-1)

“We really need to stress the need to avoid speculation and theories as to what happened before an investigation is complete.

“The NZALPA technical department is providing assistance to the crew and monitoring the progress of the TAIC investigation, including the quarantining of the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder,” Captain Ridling said.

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