Foreword

In May 2006, the Coroner reported on the June 2003 aircraft crash at Christchurch International Airport. At the Minister of Transport’s request, my staff have looked at how the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Transport considered, responded to, and reported on each of the Coroner’s recommendations.

I am pleased that the process and the range of information used by the CAA and the Ministry in forming their conclusions provide evidence that they have properly considered their response to each of the Coroner’s recommendations. However, the Ministry should have more proactively monitored the timeliness of its responses and the progress made by the CAA in responding to the Coroner’s recommendations.

This is the fourth time that my Office has audited the CAA. The CAA has an important role in promoting civil aviation safety in New Zealand, and it needs to respond in a timely and appropriate way to recommendations for improving its operations. I intended that this audit would also follow up on the CAA’s response to the recommendations in my 2005 report. This has not been possible, because the implementation of the certification and surveillance systems (which are aimed at addressing our main recommendations) has taken longer than planned. I have agreed with the CAA that my staff will audit the effectiveness of the new systems in late 2008.

I thank the staff of the CAA and the Ministry for their assistance with this audit.

K B Brady
Controller and Auditor-General

7 May 2008