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| Date: | Saturday 5 September 2009 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Cessna 207 Skywagon |
| Owner/operator: | Milford Sound Scenic Flights Ltd |
| Registration: | ZK-DEW |
| MSN: | 20700161 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Location: | Queenstown Airport, Otago -
 New Zealand
|
| Phase: | Unknown |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | Queenstown Airport |
| Investigating agency: | TAIC |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On Saturday 5 September 2009 the Cessna 207 aircraft had been loaded with 5 passengers for a trip from Queenstown to Milford Sound. Owing to a faulty battery the aircraft would not start using the conventional key-start system.
The pilot placed another company employee, who was not a pilot or an engineer, in the left-hand seat, set the handbrake and set the ignition and engine controls for a hand-start procedure. The pilot succeeded in starting the engine by swinging the propeller, but as the employee sitting in the left-hand seat did not understand how to operate the foot brakes, and had inadvertently disengaged the handbrake, the aircraft started moving forward at a speed that the pilot could just match.
The aircraft left the apron area and entered the grassed Zone 2 protection area adjacent to the main runway before stopping. It was therefore classed as a runway incursion because permission from air traffic control was required before entering the Zone.
The operator had established a procedure for hand-starting aircraft in exceptional circumstances; however the procedure did not meet the standards recommended by the Civil Aviation Authority in a published article in its monthly magazine, and the pilot did not follow the procedure anyway.
Nobody was injured and the aircraft was not damaged.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
TAIC NZ Accident Report 09-006
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 3 January 2023 | YJ-TAN | Air Taxi Vanuatu | 0 | Emae Airport (EAE/NVSE), Siwo, Emae Island |  |
min |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 03-Nov-2016 20:29 | harro | Updated [Total fatalities, Departure airport, Damage, Narrative, ] |
| 31-Jan-2022 20:54 | Ron Averes | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Location, Source, ] |
| 31-Jan-2022 20:58 | Ron Averes | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Departure airport, ] |
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