Date:	Sunday 19 March 1989
Time:	16:35
Type:	Britten-Norman BN-2A-21 Islander
Owner/operator:	Sounds Air
Registration:	ZK-SFE
MSN:	406
Year of manufacture:	1974
Total airframe hrs:	3166 hours
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	Tiraora Lodge -   New Zealand
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:	Koromiko
Destination airport:	Tiraora Lodge airstrip
Investigating agency:	TAIC
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
While attempting to land at Tiraora Lodge the pilot was dazzled by low sun and elected to overshoot. The aircraft made a low turn to avoid high ground, struck a telephone wire and descended out of control into the sea.

CONCLUSION: The probable cause of this accident was the pilot’s decision to continue to fly the aircraft, at 200 feet amsl, past the point from which a missed approach could be successfully achieved, when he was unable to see the position of the runway, its threshold or the windsock.

Other contributory factors were:
The pilot’s unfamiliarity with the Tiraora Lodge Airstrip,
The pilot’s inadequate training in strip operation and on the aircraft type
The pilot’s failure to check the position of the aircraft’s flaps, visually, during the missed approach procedure when he believed the flap position indicator to be unreliable,
The pilot’s unfamiliarity with the aircraft’s flap operating system,
The lack of a suitable wind measuring device or other information on
the local winds in the area and the presence of a substantial downflow in the area of the attempted missed approach,
Obstructions within the obstruction free area prescribed for approved landing grounds, and
The absence of supervision of the airline by the regulatory authority.

Aircraft Accident Report No. 89-032 Britten Norman BN-2A-21 Islander ZK-SFE Northwest Bay, Pelorus Sound 19 March 1989

Date/time	Contributor	Updates