By Dan Parker
Civil Aviation has ordered inspections of all New Zealand hot air balloons - more than 70 of them - following the Carterton crash which killed 11.
Investigators looking into the accident have discovered the balloon may not have been airworthy or properly maintained.
Problems included incomplete documentation, an incorrectly carried out strength test and an inadequate inspection of the balloon's fuel system.
Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) chief commissioner John Marshall says he would not have travelled in the balloon.
“If I had known as a person about to get in a balloon that maintenance requirements had not been complied with, obviously personally I would not want to get in that balloon.”
The exact cause of the crash has not been identified but Civil Aviation has acted swiftly on the recommendations of the TAIC, ordering an inspection of all of the country's 74 hot air balloons to make sure that maintenance is up to standard.
Balloon Aviation Association president Martyn Stacey says this could be damaging to business.
“I think there is a lot of panic going on in the industry, they are saying ‘well where do we go, there's no direction’. I've had balloonists ring me up [saying] ‘what do I do?’. Until you're told otherwise, you carry on as advertised.”
Mr Stacey is the flight director of the country's two major balloon festivals in the Waikato and Wairarapa and he says while the TAIC report is concerning, he believes ballooning is still safe.
“I don't think it's serious enough that it grounded every aircraft but there is obviously something wrong in the system somewhere.”
He says regardless of the panic within the industry, the Balloons Over Wairarapa festival in two weeks will go ahead.
3 News