A report into a fatal mid-air collision has concluded that all parties associated with Paraparaumu Airport should have done more to ensure it was safe for flights.
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission has released its report into the collision between a helicopter and light plane that killed three young pilots in February last year.
The report says the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) should have acted on its 1996 finding that normally accepted flying procedures were risky at Paraparaumu Airport because of the way it was laid out and used.
The report also says airport management and operators should have worked proactively to mitigate the danger.
The CAA says as a result of the Paraparumu collision report it is going to increase the activity and focus of its advisors, but hasn't given any details of the changes.
But it says it had limited powers to tell Paraparaumu Airport, which was uncertificated, what to do.
CAA criticised
Aviation Industry Association chief executive Irene King, says she understands that following cuts only one CAA safety advisor now covers the whole of the North Island, which puts the industry at risk.
Ms King says the CAA is under financial stress because much of its income comes from passenger levies which have shrunk during the recession.
But she criticises it for using $8.5 million of reserves to move to a new building in Wellington when the money should have been used to keep funding its safety programmes.
Ms King, whose association represents airlines and others in the industry, says the Government is also responsible because it has been starving the CAA of funds for many years.
Transport Minister Steven Joyce says he is not impressed by the CAA's move to Wellington, but it's too late to stop it going ahead.
