Airwork Flight 23 Summary
Date May 3, 2005
Type alleged Pilot error
Site Stratford, New Zealand
Passengers 0
Crew 2
Injuries 0
Fatalities 2
Survivors 0
Aircraft type Swearingen SA.227AC Metro III
Operator Airwork
Tail number ZK-POA
Airwork Flight 23 was a New Zealand Post cargo flight between Auckland International Airport (AKL/NZAA) and Woodbourne Airport (BHE/NZWB) that disintegrated on May 3, 2005.
The aircraft was scheduled for take off at 9:00 P.M. local time, but it was delayed while cargo was being loaded. During the delay the pilots ordered an extra 570 L (about 150.5 gallons) of fuel and told the person refueling to put all the fuel in the left wing fuel tank, instead of splitting the fuel exactly between the two tanks, as was company procedure. The flight eventually took off at 9:36 P.M. local time.
Immediately after take off the autopilot was engaged and it controlled the aircraft during its climb to flight level 220. The flight was continued at full power instead of cruise setting to make up for lost time for the next fifteen minutes. On powering down to cruise power, the captain noticed fuel imbalance on the plane and initiated cross flow procedures. Shortly after, at 10:13 P.M. local time, the plane entered a spiral descent and broke up, killing both pilots.
