ABOUT 50 AIR New Zealand Boeing 747-200 pilots have been ruled technically unqualified, and the airline has been given ten days to retrain about 50 pilots representing about half the carrier's 747-200 technical crew.
An audit conducted by the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority has found that 747-200 simulator instructors are not current with familiarisation flights on the type's routes, which invalidates simulator training they had conducted.
The airline has appealed to pilots to present themselves for re-training on rostered days off, saying that the carrier could suffer flight cancellations and "serious financial damage" if the pilots' qualifications were allowed to lapse at the end of the ten-day period.
"If you are unable to attend for any reason please understand you will not have a valid licence and will not be able to fly," Air New Zealand warns.
Source: Flight International
