Air India crash: No fuel switch checks ordered for New Zealand Boeing 787s
However, NZ's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has told the Herald no such checks were needed.
'Currently there is no airworthiness directive requiring inspections of the fuel cutoff switches on Boeing 787s from the state of design ... from the US, where the aircraft was originally designed.'
The authority said it was in frequent contact with the FAA.
'At this stage there are no mandatory inspection requirements associated with the Air India accident, or the preliminary report issued by India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation.'
The CAA said Dreamliner and 737 operators should follow FAA recommendations and airworthiness directives.
Air NZ, operator of 14 Dreamliners, has been approached for comment.
According to Reuters, the FAA this week said the fuel control switch design, including the locking feature, was similar on various Boeing models, and not unsafe.
The crash has prompted speculation which Air India's NZ-born chief executive reportedly sought to address this week.
Campbell Wilson told staff the crash probe was 'far from over,' according to an internal memo The Wall Street Journal cited.
Campbell Wilson, chief executive officer of Air India. Photo / Lionel Ng, Bloomberg via Getty Images
'Over the past 30 days, we've seen an ongoing cycle of theories, allegations, rumours and sensational headlines, many of which have later been disproven,' Wilson said in the memo.
Airline Pilots' Association of India president Sam Thomas told the Press Trust of India the preliminary report seemed to focus on 'one sentence which is misleading'.
He was referring to the cockpit voice recording about fuel supply.
Thomas said the report had elementary mistakes.
'We are not happy with the investigation. And it is going in the direction of blaming the pilots before even the inquiry is completed.'
Meanwhile, auditors from the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) are undertaking a full safety audit of New Zealand's aviation system this month.
The audit, unrelated to the Air India crash, was announced in February.
The CAA said Icao was conducting detailed interviews with the CAA, Ministry of Transport, Transport Accident Investigation Commission, and other organisations.
The previous full safety audit in NZ was in 2006.
John Weekes is a business journalist mostly covering aviation and courts. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Defence Force cuts 255 civilian roles to focus on front-line personnel
(File) NZDF is cutting 255 civilian roles to help it focus on front line personnel. Photo: Supplied / New Zealand Defence Force The Defence Force is cutting 255 civilan roles as part of a restructure. The agency said it is getting rid of 281 filled roles but establishing 276 new ones, meaning five currently filled positions will be axed. The remaining 250 jobs to be cut are currently vacant. The restructure was announced earlier this year , in March, when it was thought the net loss of roles would be about 370. In a statement, NZDF said the changes would help it focus on "maintaining combat readiness and delivering on core military activities". "In making decisions, the NZDF has consulted with staff and unions, and the feedback received has meant some changes that were initially proposed will not go ahead." Further consultation is still underway on alternative proposals, it said. "Throughout this process, the NZDF has ensured that as many staff as possible are placed into suitable alternative positions in the new structure." The Public Service Association said about 10 percent of the agency's civilian jobs were being cut and that the changes would increase already heavy workloads. This would lead to more stress and burnout, and force those in uniform to pick up the shortfall, it said. National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the government was fooling itself if it thought cutting so many jobs was how to build a modern, combat-ready defence force, at a time of rising security risks. She was pleased the government was investing in military equipment and technology , but said it was blind to the fact that civilian defence workers - like engineers and IT specialists - were needed to support this. Fitzsimons said staff were told the tough fiscal environment has forced Defence to make deep cuts in a number of areas, including cancelling some training activities and major exercises; reducing flying hours, sea days and other training, and; pausing property maintenance. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- RNZ News
'Greed' drove mum who stole $500,000 from employer and spent most on takeaways, judge finds
By Belinda Feek, Open Justice multimedia journalist of Ariana Thompson-Bell spent most of the money on clothing and fast food, her lawyer told the court. Photo: Supplied / NZME A woman who pilfered just under $500,000 from her employer says she spent most of it on takeaways and clothing. Ariana Thompson-Bell transferred legitimate payments into one of her four personal bank accounts over two years, and made deposits into her own daughter's bank account. Thompson-Bell was jailed on a charge of theft by a person in a special relationship in the Hamilton District Court on Monday afternoon. Her employer successfully appealed to have their name suppressed by Judge Tini Clark. The employer can instead be described as a "local work skills programme". In trying to break down Thompson-Bell's offending, Judge Clark quizzed counsel Christine Hardy about exactly what the stolen money was spent on. "It essentially went on funding a lifestyle that was beyond her means. "I'm talking about lots of money that was spent on things like clothing and fast food," Hardy said. Judge Clark pressed: "You'd have to buy a lot of fast food to spend $500,000 or thereabouts, wouldn't you, Ms Hardy. Was there travel, were there vehicles?" Hardy replied: "I don't believe there were any vehicles. And there was one transaction for Air NZ in the thousands of dollars, but by and large it was being spent in small but very frequent amounts." The offending happened between 2021 and 2023. Thompson-Bell's modus operandi was simple. Instead of paying legitimate invoices to service providers, she put the money into one of four accounts she had control of. In 2023, the chief executive started receiving letters from the IRD and other companies stating that payments had been missed. The CEO recalled recently authorising payments, so initiated an investigation and found "significant funds" being transferred into one of four bank accounts. One of the accounts belonged to a staff member, identified as Thompson-Bell. Police were informed, and examinations were done on her Kiwibank accounts. They found that between December 2021 and September 2022, $191,073 was transferred into her account. Between January 2021 and November 2022, she transferred $241,554.26 into her daughter's account, a further $63,800 into a third account, and $3500 into the account of a kōhanga reo. In total, Thompson-Bell stole $499,972.55. Since first appearing in court last year, a total of $66,355.93 has been repaid, which included about $40,000 from her mother. Hardy said that as soon as her offending was uncovered, Thompson-Bell attended a hui with her employer "face to face". "And she formally apologised and took responsibility." However, Judge Clark noted it wasn't as if Thompson-Bell suffered a "crisis of conscience", and fessed up to her behaviour - she was caught. At the hui, it was agreed that the money would be paid back. But Judge Clark said that was unlikely to ever happen, given she had so far paid back only about 13 percent of what she had stolen. Hardy urged the judge to get down to a sentence of 24 months, which was within range of home detention to allow her to continue to look after her five children. She explained that Thompson-Bell's husband was often away for work and would be unable to look after all the children himself. Hardy described the offending as "unsophisticated", as all she did was change the bank account number to which the money was being deposited. However, aggravating the situation for the judge was discovering that Thompson-Bell had just two years earlier qualified to work in finance when she began stealing. Judge Clark said the injection of those funds would have made a "significant difference" to the quality of her family's life. "To provide Ms Thompson-Bell a lifestyle that she desired and otherwise would not have been able to achieve from her own earnings ... clearly, Ms Thompson-Bell and her family have benefited from her dishonesty." The judge said she didn't have any information from the contractors affected, but it appeared as though her employer paid them and then adopted a prudent approach with its spending. Judge Clark said while the trust managed to meet its financial obligations, "that's all good and well, but it does occur to me that there's more than just one victim here". Trying to describe the impetus behind the offending, Judge Clark said one word came to mind, "greed". "This was not money taken for something essential, where it was a one-off occasion out of desperation or anything of the kind. This was a very warped sense of entitlement to money that she knew ... she was not entitled to." Judge Clark said the impact of Thompson-Bell's sentence weighed heavily with her and also the impact it would have on her children, but found a jail sentence was justified. She allowed discounts for the guilty plea, remorse, reparation, the impact on Thompson-Bell's children and previous good character. "I have had to be very clinical. From my perspective, I have done as much as I can, and, unfortunately, Mrs Thompson-Bell, it will be 27 months' imprisonment." -This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
Newsroom
3 days ago
- Newsroom
Paying for the reality of climate change
The 100-year floods are rolling in on a regular basis; the rain doesn't let up; no one wants a cliff-top property anymore. Climate change is no longer just about things you can't see or touch. It's about running from rising water and bailing out the basement. 'I think there has been a lot of emphasis both in reporting and in people's understanding of climate change … and the science behind that and how it's getting worse,' says RNZ In Depth reporter Kate Newton. 'We're now starting to shift our focus because of these severe weather events that we're seeing more frequently, and at a greater level of severity, to what that actually means for us now, and the fact that climate change is no longer this far-off, distant prospect, but something that is affecting real people and real lives, at this very moment.' Today on The Detail we look at how we adapt to this new normal, and who will pay for it, after a report by an Independent Reference Group recommended essentially that the days of property buy-outs have a limited life. The reference group included economists, iwi, bankers, insurance and local government representatives and was set up by the Ministry for the Environment. Newton goes through the findings on climate mitigation and adaption, which she says are politically unpalatable, and extremely expensive. 'There's a whole lot that goes into it and every step of it is complex and every step of it is expensive. But we also need to remember that even if we do nothing, it's still expensive. 'I think the top estimates of costs involved with Cyclone Gabrielle was $14.5 billion – it's a huge amount of money. 'But you're looking at things like, even just understanding where the risk is, and how severe that risk is, and how it might change in the future – it's a huge amount of work.' The Government wants bipartisan support on decisions because future certainty is required but also, Newton points out, because of the bleak message it's likely to send – in the words of one critic: 'You are on your own'. But firm decisions are unlikely to come any time soon. 'It's something that's been a long time coming and I think [Climate Change Minister] Simon Watts is running into similar problems to his predecessor James Shaw, who tried for six years to pass a climate change adaptation act,' says Newton. The main issue with that failure was around the complexity of how we do it and who pays for it. 'This is one of those big thorny issues that if you're changing the rules and changing how people adapt every three or six or nine years, it gives nobody any certainty in the future.' Earth Sciences NZ (which is the merger of Niwa with GNS) has done a huge amount of modelling work around the country, mapping coastal inundation risks, and its next body of work due out soon is on inland inundation. Other bodies of work have pointed out that we need spatial planning to avoid destruction by weather in the future. That includes identifying areas of particular risk, and having a plan for them, whether that is creating a wetland or building a sea wall or stop banks, or if a retreat from an area should be mandated. But councils aren't required by legislation to do such work; and if the Government puts a cap on rates as it's discussing, it's likely they won't be able to. They just won't have the money. Small councils also have the issue that their planning departments might consist of one or two people, and the job is far bigger than that. As well, specialists who were doing such work have had job cuts – and those experts have gone overseas where their skills are in demand. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here. You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.
