New Zealand starts aviation safety probe into radar failure

Air traffic investigators on Wednesday launched an inquiry into a radar failure that grounded commercial flights across New Zealand for almost two hours on Tuesday.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) said the inquiry would identify the circumstances and causes of the incident with a view to helping reduce the possibility of a recurrence.

A team of three investigators had begun the initial evidence gathering, working with the Airways Corporation, the state-owned enterprise that operates New Zealand's air traffic control, and the Civil Aviation Authority, said a statement from the TAIC.

The commission aimed for an average inquiry duration of 18 months, but it had the ability to issue safety recommendations at any time should the need arise, it said.

Airways New Zealand said Tuesday that "an internal network outage" at about 2.41 p.m. had caused disruption to communication and surveillance systems.

It immediately suspended all non-airborne flights, but at no point was the safety of any aircraft compromised.

Full services resumed at about 4.30 p.m., it said in a statement.

Airways New Zealand chief operating operator Pauline Lamb told Radio New Zealand Wednesday that hacking was among the options immediately considered after the radar failure, but it was "highly, highly unlikely that this event was caused by any such penetration. "

About 200 flights were reportedly affected by the fault, including 160 Air New Zealand flights. Endi