Police updates on crimes and investigations for 30 May 2022.
Person dies following small aircraft crash
The occupant of a small aircraft that crashed at Feilding Aerodrome on May 7 has died.
Ronald Sanders, 74, of Palmerston North suffered critical injuries during the crash and later died.
The Civil Aviation Authority was notified of the crash at the time.
The death will be referred to the Coroner.
Have you seen Johnette?
Johnette, 15, has been missing since Wednesday 25 May.
She was last seen in the Maraenui area, Napier.
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Police and her family have concerns for her welfare and would like to see her return home.
If you have seen Johnette or have information regarding her whereabouts, please contact Police on 111 and quote file number 220529/5000.
What type of aircraft was Mr. Sanders flying?
Flying General Aviation aircraft in NZ has become VERY un-affordable.
One has to pay for airspace use, landing fees, tie-down / hangaring fees, and permission from some councils if you want to base permanently out of a few Class B & C airspace locations.
And then, there are the $600 flight physicals, bi-annual flight checks, (average $1200) and aircraft avionics upgrades ($13,000) for C-CAS and Garmin 1000 systems replacing outdated and antiquated analog instruments.
Couple this with the annual maintenance inspection ($5000 – $55,000) along with the high cost of fuel, insurance, etc. and one can see a modus here to remove General Aviation aircraft from ‘Global Skies’. Only the Elite / Rich / Global NGO’s and restricted use airlines will have the ‘privilege’ of flying in aircraft.
The CAA is overbearing, and is actually looking at video feeds which pilots put-up on YouTube to look for violations and levy fines and / or charges. If you’re a pilot, turn-off the Go-Pro! You may end up recording yourself committing an otherwise unknown infraction only to be fined / summoned into court on CAA violations.
The CAA is staffed with bureaucratic non-fliers, most of who have only flown on airliners…
Various aviation groups say change is coming within the ranks of the CAA, but nothing constructive in reducing these costs will ever appear. (for instance, the Cessna 182 / 185 uses an oil filter that is nothing more than 2-ply toilet paper in a metal canister, but it cost $60 when purchased from an aviation parts store. The same thing in the grocery store is $1.50….)
Result? This means that Pilots then start flying ultralight (UL) and light sport aircraft (LSA) that have some challenging handling characteristics in relation to wing loading and handling at low airspeeds.
Hence, they have a higher accident rate!!!
This is the scenario that many Pilots find themselves in when they fail a Class 1 or Class 2 physical, but then go out and get an LTSA w/ passenger endorsement which then restricts them in where they can fly, how many passengers they can take, and places the Pilot in LSA-type aircraft only.
Most Pilots are simply walking away when they aircraft they have owned and flown for years and know inside and out, rather than fly in a very restrictive environment which costs just as much in many aspects with maintenance, insurance, operating costs, etc.
Rule proposals at the CAA by the flying public which allows for the Pilots of General Aviation aircraft to keep their non-LSA aircraft (ie Cessna 182’s Piper Twins, as examples) and fly on LTSA Medical Exams has so far been a moot subject.
But given the inflationary costs and deliberate price-gouging from several fronts in General and Recreational Aviation, I can’t and do not see any effective economic changes coming, despite the CAA doing the right thing and allowing Private Pilots who were otherwise qualified as Commercial Pilots / ATPs who failed the Class 1 or Class 2 physicals to fly to revert to Private Pilot only w/ LTSA physicals in the aircraft that they are all qualified to fly!
Flying on instruments (IFR) doesn’t change when one reverts from a Class 1 or 2 and picks-up an LTSA / Passenger Physical Exam…but the CAA nullifies Instrument Flight on those who previously had thousands of hours doing the same if you revert to an LTSA Physical, thus wasting the skills, time and effectiveness of General Aviation flight
The Aviation Community in New Zealand extends it’s condolences to the Sanders Family.
Wokeism is a mental disorder and extending all walks of life. Aviation is artificially made unaffordable. This is not the way innovative countries like China operates. A dollar item imported from China will be sold for ten dollars. Likewise $1.50 toilet paper will be sold for $60 in the name of safety and regulating the industry. NZ has removed any association between working hard, and honest to improve the economic well being. In the good old days, Churces were powerful and exploiting the peasents. Wokeism is the sermon of the modern dat Church to exploit the public.