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Coordinates: 40°20′00″S 175°48′00″E / 40.333352°S 175.800079°E / -40.333352; 175.800079

Ansett New Zealand Flight 703

Accident summary
Date	9 June 1995
Type	Controlled flight into terrain
Site	Tararua Ranges, New Zealand
Passengers	18
Crew	3
Injuries	17
Fatalities	4
Survivors	17
Aircraft type	de Havilland Canada DHC-8-102[1]
Operator	Ansett New Zealand
Tail number	ZK-NEY
Flight origin	Auckland Airport
Destination	Palmerston North International Airport

Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 was an Ansett New Zealand scheduled passenger transport flight from Auckland Airport to Palmerston North. On 9 June 1995, the Dash 8 aircraft flying this route crashed west of the Tararua Ranges and 16 km east of Palmerston North airport, during an instrument approach in bad weather. The aircraft was carrying 18 passengers and three crew members. All passengers were New Zealand citizens except for a United States citizen.

During the approach to a right turn which would place the aircraft on final approach to runway 25, the right landing gear failed to fully extend so the co-pilot began to manually extend it using a hydraulic pump. The aircraft's power settings had already been reduced to Flight Idle which was normal, but the aircraft was inadvertently allowed to descend too low^[2] toward the undulating terrain leading into Palmerston North.

Although Ansett New Zealand Flight 703's Ground Proximity Warning System sounded an alarm four seconds before the aircraft hit the ground, the crew was unable to avoid the accident. According to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission report an audio alarm of "Terrain! Terrain! <whoop> <whoop> Pull up!" should have sounded 17 seconds before impact, but the GPWS malfunctioned, for reasons which have never been determined. There was an investigation by the New Zealand Police in 2001^[3] into whether or not a mobile phone call from the aircraft may have interfered with the system. However Police were not the appropriate agency to investigate, nor assess the effect on an aircraft in flight. Police withheld details of this phone call from the Courts whilst they were attempting to prosecute Captain Gary Southeran for manslaughter and given the absence of any mention about the phone call in the NZ TAAIC Crash report it seems unlikely that they shared the information with crash investigators whilst the crash was being investigated. The official crash report does mention the following on page 69:

"The aircraft manufacturer’s avionics representative advised that there was no likelihood that the operation of a computer, other electronic device or a cell phone would have affected the aircraft’s flight instruments."

Captain Southeran's defence was that 4.5 seconds before impact the radio altimeter display flipped 1000 feet in altitude as he watched.

The cell phone call was received at the Ansett NZ call centre in Christchurch by a woman with the surname Cauldwell from a passenger moments before impact, complaining about being late because the undercarriage would not lower. It was not known for some time that this was a feature of the accident and the crash site was shrouded in mist delaying rescuers locating the survivors. Thus there was no prospect that the complaint was a hoax call.

Contents 1 Concealment that Radio Altimeter aerials were painted 2 Crash Site 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Concealment that Radio Altimeter aerials were painted

Later study of Ansett NZ Flt 703's GPWS indicated its antennas had been painted and this possibly reduced its ability to provide a timely alarm, although later comments by NZ TAAIC insisted the paint did not block or reflect signals ^[4] This antenna is clearly embossed with the words, do not paint, a warning that was not heeded. In addition the antenna is in a location that could easily be seen during a visual inspection by either maintenance or flight personnel. Bench testing of the radio altimeter proved the unit was still functioning perfectly after its recovery from the wreckage.

[edit] Crash Site

Flight 703 pancaked onto a hilltop and broke up as it slid along the ground, killing a flight attendant instantly. Reginald John Dixon, one passenger, tried to free two others trapped near the wing root as the wreckage caught fire. He failed to free them and a flash fire critically burned him. He died from his injuries two weeks later. Thus three passengers also died and many others sustained injuries. The aircraft, ZK-NEY, a de Havilland Canada DHC-8, was manufactured in Canada.

For his bravery in a dangerous situation, Dixon was awarded the New Zealand Cross, New Zealand's highest award for civilian bravery.^[5]

[edit] See also

• List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
• Air New Zealand Flight 901
• New Zealand National Airways Corporation Flight 441
• Ground Proximity Warning System

[edit] References

• Dash 8 Down: the Inside Story of Ansett Flight 703. ISBN 1-86941-489-6. Guerin, Michael; 2001; Random House; 186pp; Paperback;

[edit] External links

• Transport Accident Investigation Commission

v • d • e ← 1994 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1995 1996→ Bristow Flight 56C (January 19) — An-70 air disaster (February 10) — TAROM Flight 371 (March 31) — Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 (June 9) — Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 (August 21) — Kish Air Flight 707 (September 19) — American Airlines Flight 1572 (November 12) — Air St. Martin Beech 1900 crash (December 7) — Banat Air Flight 166 (December 13) — Trans Service Airlift Lockheed L-188 crash (December 18) — American Airlines Flight 965 (December 20) Bold indicates incidents resulting at least 50 deaths (current article is always in bold) Orange color indicates the deadliest incident in 1995