A senior Civil Aviation Authority manager has told a court in Queenstown a "prudent pilot would not have taken off" from the resort in the conditions under which a Pacific Blue pilot decided to fly.
The defence for the Pacific Blue pilot charged with operating a Boeing 737 carelessly two years ago is cross-examining the CAA's general airline manager Mark Hughes for the second day running.
Captain Hughes has sat in the witness box since 10am yesterday and this morning he told the court and judge Kevin Phillips if faced with the same situation he would not have left the airport.
"The important thing for me is the information given to the pilot before take off,'' he said.
"A prudent pilot would not take-off in those conditions, particularly on a narrow run way and particularly when they haven't been given the clearance to do it.''
The 54-year-old pilot from Auckland has has been granted name suppression after carrying 71 passengers on June 22, 2010 outbound to Sydney after the evening civil twilight cutoff time of 5.14pm.
Captain Hughes pointed out high crosswinds, the lack of light at the time, the actual time the plane took-off and the pilot's ill-preparation to apply the anti-ice function if it were needed as factors of carelessness.
"I accept that he's highly experienced.
"You are talking about prudence and care, the next minute they are taking off in crosswinds that exceed the company maximum. The two are not in sync.''
"If I were in that situation I wouldn't have left the gate.''
Defence lawyer Matthew Muir said his client was highly experienced with over 6000 hours flight experience in a Boeing and 27 years
flying in and out of Queenstown.
"The decision to delay the departure indicates he was . . . not at all cavalier.''
The defence argues the pilot's actions of leaving at 5.25pm, with a low cloud ceiling, on a wet runway and with crosswinds exceeding 16 knots, were below the level of carelessness.
