New Zealand's Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) has concluded that the crew of an Air New Zealand De Havilland Dash 8-300 failed to reinstate the aircraft's vertical navigation (VNAV) descent mode after changing altimeter settings during its descent, leaving the turboprop in vertical-speed mode and allowing it to sink far below its planned approach profile on a night arrival at Timaru.
The flight, NZ8199 from Wellington on 13 June 2023, was recovered before landing: once the captain recognised the situation the aircraft was levelled, climbed back to profile and landed…