A Sonex plane. (File pic) Photo: Wikipedia
A pilot in his seventies fitted a new propeller to his aircraft before taking it up for a test flight which ended in a fatal crash beside the runway.
Nigel Anthony Frederikson, who was 74 at the time of his death, was also the chairperson of the Ōtaki Air Strip. He stored his small Sonex aeroplane in a hangar on-site.
A report by Coroner Rachael Schmidt-McCleave found that on the morning of 17 August 2020, he left his house at 9am, telling his wife he was going flying.
CCTV footage showed him installing the new propellor at the air strip, before taking the plane out of the hangar.
About four hours later, shortly before 1pm, emergency services located his damaged plane at the air strip and found he had died of his injuries.
The propeller was not attached to the engine of the plane, and a search did not locate it.
A separate investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) found that around 17 minutes after take-off, and while returning to the air strip, the propeller detached from the aircraft.
Frederikson made a series of manoeuvres to lose height, but the aircraft went into a steep dive and struck the grass next to the runway.
Forensic pathologist Dr Katherine White carried out a post-mortem, and found Frederikson's cause of death to be multiple injuries to the head, chest and skeleton.
Frederikson's background was as an engineer, and he had retired from work as an advisor for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment about four years before his death.
He held a private pilot's licence, having learned to fly in the 1990s and accumulating more than 20 years' experience. He built his aircraft himself in 2009.
The coroner found he held a number of CAA-required certificates, approvals and ratings, including a valid New Zealand Certificate of Maintenance Approval for the purpose of maintaining his own aircraft.
But the maintenance approval was not valid for the overhaul of components.
Engine manufacturer Jabiru told the coroner the propeller Frederikson fitted on the morning of the accident was not approved for use with that engine.
The coroner urged pilots to "re-familiarise themselves" with CAA material on design changes and airworthiness.
"If there is any doubt as to whether a change constitutes a modification, I encourage operators to consult with the CAA before making the change and attempting a flight."
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