Search Continues For Debris... And Remains

They call it a black hole, known for treacherous icing conditions. It's the area around New Zealand's North Island. Friday, the day a Convair 580 operated by AirFreight New Zealand crashed or ditched into the sea, heavy icing conditions were in the air over North Island.

That word comes from a New Zealand government forecaster, who says ice, not dangerous wind shears or lightning, are more likely to have caused the accident.

The Convair 580, headed from Christchurch to Palmerston North, was piloted by Barry Cowley, of Kaiapoi, and Paul Miller, of Thames.  The Convair freighter now appears to have been flying through the worst of the storm system about the time that torrential rain was turning parts of the Kapiti coast into a disaster area.

The New Zealand Meteorological Service issued severe weather warnings for high winds and heavy rain throughout much of the country on Friday. Its aviation forecasters had also warned pilots, predicting possible aircraft icing and severe turbulence across the North Island, and these were in force during the evening the freighter disappeared.

MetServices operations manager James Travers couldn't talk much about the conditions because of an ongoing CAA investigation. "There is the possibility that around the Otaki area particularly, icing can be particularly bad in moist northerly flows. It can be difficult (flying there) in icing conditions."

MetService weather ambassador Bob McDavitt called Friday's weather "abysmal".

During the storm, residents along the Kapiti coast said they heard a plane circling, then bangs, and later smelled the unmistakable odor of aviation fuel. Search and Rescue land adviser Laurie Gallagher said debris had been found in the water and on beaches off the coast where the plane was thought to have gone down after breaking up in mid-air.

FMI: www.caa.govt.nz