When the Dash 8 aircraft on Ansett Flight 703 ploughed into a hillside in the Tararua Ranges in 1995, it left four people dead. It was New Zealand’s most serious air crash since the Erebus disaster and it devastated the seventeen survivors, some of whom were seriously injured.

After a high-profile court case, the pilot has been acquitted of manslaughter charges. In Dash 8 Down: The Inside Story of Ansett Flight 703, author Michael Guerin probes beneath the media reports to investigate what really caused Flight 703 to crash:

• Could it have been pilot error?
• Were the pilot and co-pilot aware the aircraft was in danger?
• Could they have prevented the crash?
• Was there a mechanical malfunction?
• How bad were the weather conditions?
• What was the role of Air Traffic Control?
• Was the new approach path safe?

Dash 8 Down also examines the use of the cockpit voice recorder (black box) in this criminal case — it was a world first and attracted keen attention from the world aviation community.

Please Note Sorry, I only post to a NZ address.