Skydiving Plane Down With Nine People On Board

New Zealand's civil aviation authority has issued a warning to skydiving operators about overloading Fletcher FU24 aircraft after an accident which fatally injured nine people at Fox Glacier.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) put out a directive Monday telling operators that the number of people in the main cabin should be limited to six. The move follows an accident in which all nine people aboard the converted cropdusting aircraft were fatally injured when it went down just after takeoff at the end of the runway at Fox Glacier Airport.

TVNZ.com reports that the TAIC has learned that overloading the main cabin can lead to exceeding the aft CG envelope on the aircraft, though they have also stressed that they have not determined that improper loading was the cause of the accident. The directive also requires operators to weigh skydivers and their equipment, and consider their position in the plane when making weight and balance calculations (seems like SOP to us, ed).

Fletcher FU24 File Photo

Five of those involved in the accident were employees of Skydive New Zealand. The others were tourists from overseas.

TAIC chief investigator Tim Burfoot said "It is too early to confirm whether weight and balance issues contributed to this accident, but there is sufficient concern that a safety issue exists which needs to be acted upon urgently by other operators of this aircraft type."  He said that an interim report on the accident should be finished next month, and any urgent safety recommendations would be made at that time. But much like the NTSB, Burfoot said a final report could take as long as two years to prepare. TVNZ reports that there are three more FU24 aircraft in use as skydiving planes in New Zealand.

FMI: www.taic.org.nz/