Coroner yet to decide on inquest

The final decision on whether an inquest will be held for two men in a Queenstown hang-glider accident has not yet been made by the coroner.

Otago-Southland coroner David Crerar yesterday said he had been in contact with both families of the deceased, but in this case an inquest was not standard procedure. "Normally, when there's been an investigation by an outside agency, such as the Civil Aviation Authority, a coroner wouldn't hold an inquest, but I have a discretion, and we're looking whether an inquest will be held for these deaths."

Volunteer fireman Andrew Scotland, 34, of Waipu, and tandem hang-glider pilot, Argentinian Gerardo Bean, 27, were killed near Queenstown in March last year when the hang-glider plummeted to the ground. Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Bill Sommers yesterday said a preliminary accident report had been sent to the families last month.

Mr Scotland's widow Pauline Scotland yesterday said the date had passed for herself and Mr Scotland's family to ask for an inquest. "An inquest won't bring him back," she said.

"We have written to David asking some questions, and to clarify some points, and from understanding he's dealing with those before he makes a decision."

Mrs Scotland said she and Mr Scotland's family were happy to leave the decision of whether an inquest would be held up to the coroner.

She said she hoped changes triggered by the Adventure Tourism Review, which were released on Tuesday, would go some way in ensuring other hang-gliding deaths would not happen.

However, since the deaths correspondence with Skytrek, the company Mr Scotland went hang-gliding with, had not given his family pleasing results, Mrs Scotland said. She had no faith the company would ensure similar accidents would not happen again, but trusted the due process of the Civil Aviation Authority investigation would.

Skytrek owner Ian Clark yesterday said the requested footage had been lost.

"At the time we took backups of the data, but in the months that followed the accident the data was lost. I did my best to locate that data, but to no avail, and I've communicated that as succinctly as I could to Mr Scotland's family."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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