Air New Zealand crash remembered

AIRBUS VICTIMS REMEMBERED: A plaque will be placed at Canet-en-Roussillon in France, a year after the Air New Zealand crash which killed seven.

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A plaque is to be unveiled on the French Mediterranean coast to mark the first anniversary of the Air New Zealand Airbus A320 crash.

The plane, undergoing a hand-over flight from Perpignan, crashed into the sea on November 27, killing the five New Zealanders and two Germans aboard.

The plane had been leased by XL Airways and was being tested prior to being handed back to Air New Zealand.

The airline will next Wednesday hold a social function to thank all those in France who helped at the time, including search and recovery personnel, police, coastguard, navy and local government officials.

On Thursday afternoon a 20 minute service will be held on the seawall at Canet-en-Roussillon, which is the closest land point to where the aircraft crashed.

Family and airline represents from XL and Air New Zealand will then go to the scene by boat to hold a private service.

French authorities are expected to soon release their explanations into why the plane crashed.

A spokesman for the Paris-based Bureau d'Enquetes et Analyses (BEA) said an announcement was due before the end of the year.

A parallel criminal inquiry has been run by Perpignan Prosecutor Jean-Pierre Dreno, who earlier this year caused industry outrage by claiming the German pilots had screamed before they hit the water.

His office this week said they expect to release a report in Perpignan by December ,along with a decision on whether criminal charges would be laid over the crash.

The Airbus had been repainted in Air New Zealand colours at Perpignan's Europe-Aero-Services Industries. The fatal flight was a hand-over with the two Germans flying and New Zealand staff checking systems.

Intensive investigations have been carried out into whether external sensors on the Airbus had been damaged or painted over in the re-paint.

BEA's report is expected to be put back by their release of another interim report in December into the June 1 crash of Air France Flight 447 from Brazil to France, which killed all 228 people aboard.

It also focussed on the state of external sensors, particularly the pitot tubes which measure air speed.

A BEA interim report into the Air New Zealand crash included data from flight recorders which showed the New Zealand pilot telling the Germans to perform a low speed programme as it headed toward Perpignan.

For reasons yet to be explained the plane stalled and went into the sea.

''The airplane wreckage and its spread bear witness to the violence of the impact with the surface of the sea. Under such conditions, the accident was not survivable for the occupants,'' BEA said.

At the time of the BEA interim report Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe said their reading of the data showed a "combination of failures" behind the crash.

Five New Zealanders died in the crash; Captain Brian Horrell, 52, from Auckland; engineers Murray White, 37, from Auckland, and Michael Gyles, 49, from Christchurch; Noel Marsh, 35, from Christchurch; and Jeremy Cook, 58, a Wellington airworthiness inspector.

The two Germans, flying the plane, were Captain Norbert Kaeppel, 51, and co-pilot Theodor Ketzer, 58.