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Staff race against time and tide
By Senior Constable
Karl Wilson, Auckland Police Photography
Recent upskilling in Disaster Victim Identification procedures proved
invaluable to members of the Auckland Search and Rescue Squad during
the search for a crashed aircraft off the Kaiaua Coast recently.
On Friday 19 March, an ex-French military Fouga jet trainer from
the Warbirds Association crashed into the Firth of Thames. The two
highly trained pilots had been finalising aerobatics manoeuvers for
the Taupö airshow.
The jet crashed late morning, coinciding with low tide. What followed
was a race against time to recover the pilots and secure the aircraft
for salvage and a Civil Aviation Authority inquiry.
Recovery staff had to deal with a rising tide and the strong presence
of aviation gas and hydraulic fluid, while stomping through over
a foot of mud on the seabed. What started as thigh-depth muddy water
was up to chest height by the time the pilots had been removed and
the fuselage wings and tail section stropped for later salvage.
A large assortment of aircraft parts were recovered at the time,
but the bulk was recovered at dusk with the assistance of the Kaiaua
mussel farm’s barge and operators.
What was a particularly unpleasant task was undertaken with a multi-agency
approach involving Pukekohe police, Auckland SAR staff, fire service,
police photography, maritime unit, air support, police dive squad,
CAA and Auckland mortuary staff.
The dive squad’s specialised skills and equipment were utilised
to pump mud from the crash site through a sifting screen on the mussel
barge, to recover as much as possible. Days started at 0430hrs to
ensure the barge could pass the sand bar to get to the site. The
operation wound up on 31 March with many personal items recovered
as well as a large assortment of aircraft parts.
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