|
Wed, 28 Jul 2010
PORT MORESBY, PNG (SMH) ---- A Papua New Guinea airline has defended its safety record as the nation prepares for the first anniversary of the Kokoda plane crash that killed 13 people, including nine Australians.
Seven Victorians and two Queenslanders died when Airlines PNG (APNG) flight 4684 crashed en route to Kokoda on August 11, 2009.
Two PNG pilots and a Japanese tourist also died.
In less than a year since the crash, there have been three mishaps involving APNG - including one incident in which a plane veered off the runaway during take off.
The other two incidents involved a plane becoming bogged in wet ground, and another aircraft that had a flat tyre and damage to a wheel fairing.
APNG spokeswoman Danae Jones told AAP the airline had “impeccable safety standards” but would not discuss its maintenance procedures, the age of its fleet or improvements made since the Kokoda crash.
“In the absence of a state issued accident report, and consequent understanding of the reason for the accident, it would not be appropriate to isolate improvements in the organisation, at risk of this implying these may have been causal factors in the Kokoda accident,” she said.
But the accident report could be a long time coming because PNG's only air crash investigator was effectively sacked before he had finished his probe into the crash.
PNG chief accident investigator, Sid O'Toole, was almost finished his report into the crash when his contract with the Civil Aviation Authority expired on July 11 and was not renewed.
“I am no longer legally able to work on the report because I am not a Department of Transport employee,” Mr O'Toole told AAP.
Mr O'Toole, who has repeatedly called for greater government action on aviation safety, said APNG had improved its operation since the Kokoda crash.
"But what's happened to me shows how serious PNG takes air safety," he said.
At the time of the Kokoda crash, Mr O'Toole revealed PNG authorities had failed toproperly investigate 19 air crashes which had killed 16 people, including three Australians and three New Zealanders, since 2000.
In January this year, APNG and the Australian government suspended flights to four village airstrips along the Kokoda Track following safety concerns.
The same month, an APNG aircraft veered off the runaway during take off in Kikori, Gulf Province on PNG's southwest coast.
Ms Jones said APNG stopped operating at Kikori four months ago due to the standard of the runway.
In November last year, a plane became bogged in wet ground when it was servicing mining company Xstrata's Frieda River copper mine in PNG's northwest.
Some time after that, another aircraft got a flat tyre and associated crack to plastic on one of the wheel fairings.
However, Ms Jones said APNG stood by its safety record.
“The reality is the standard of aerodromes within PNG continues to decline, and for all the effort the entire industry puts in to maximising the safety of our collective operations, PNG remains one of the most challenging places in the world to fly, and these declines in infrastructure continue to challenge the industry,” she said.
The 2009 Kokoda crash wasn't APNG's first major accident in a country known for rugged terrain, harsh conditions and unpredictable weather.
In July 2004 an Australian pilot and PNG co-pilot died when their APNG twin otter carrying cargo crashed approximately 100 km north of Port Moresby.
|
