An experienced pilot has told the Queenstown District Court the pilot of a Pacific Blue flight used flawed decision-making when he flew his aircraft out of the resort nearly two years ago.
Captain Colin Glasgow, a retired Air New Zealand pilot, says that if he had been faced with the crosswind information available on that day, he would never have taken off.
The airline's crosswind wet-runway limit for takeoff at Queenstown Airport is 16 knots but the Pacific Blue pilot took off in a 19-knot crosswind.
Mr Glasgow told the court the pilot relied on the airport's windsock but that, he said, is not an reliable indicator of crosswind speed.
Wind monitors on the airfield showed there was a 28-knot crosswind gust at the time the plane took off.
Captain Glasgow says that could have pushed the Boeing 737 off the runway.
The 54-year-old pilot, who has name suppression, is charged with carelessly flying the plane.
