Warbirds over Wanaka: Crash appeal stopped as parties settle

A court case over a vintage plane crash in Wanaka has ended after the parties involved agreed to a confidential settlement.

Warbirds over Wanaka and the Royal New Zealand Airforce have abandoned their appeal against a High Court decision that found both liable for the crash at the popular event in 2018.

Pilot Arthur Dovey successfully took them to the High Court at Wellington, claiming $616,500 plus GST for damages to his World War II Russian Yak-3.

Dovey and another pilot were asked to open the show in March 2018 when two other aircraft were delayed because of bad weather.

The plane was wrecked after Dovey landed on a grass runway and hit a cherry picker he thought had been moved. He was not injured.

The High Court heard Dovey did not have insurance for his plane and was entitled to expect that he would be alerted to any hazards by the display director on duty.

Justice Jillian Mallon found Dovey's approach when he came in to land was professional and skilful, and any negligence on his behalf in not checking that the runway was clear was outbalanced by the duty of the show organiser and display director.

"A pilot takes risks when display flying, but one of those should not be that there will be a large stationary object on an available runway," she said.

Warbirds over Wanaka and the New Zealand Defence Force were set to appeal Justice Mallon's High Court decision in the Court of Appeal in Wellington today, but the case has now been abandoned after notice was filed to the court.

An NZDF spokesperson said the matter had "been settled by the respective insurers of the appellants, and the settlement agreement is subject to confidentiality".

Open Justice spoke with Dovey's lawyer Chris Chapman, who confirmed the appeal had been formally abandoned after all parties reached a confidential settlement.

The settlement was reached last week, according to Chapman, and Warbirds over Wanaka and the Attorney-General, acting on behalf of the Air Force, filed for abandonment yesterday in the High Court.

Warbirds general manager Ed Taylor also confirmed to Open Justice that the matter had been resolved and did not wish to make any further comment.

- By Hazel Osborne 
Open Justice multimedia journalist, Wellington