The Airbus A320 that crashed in the Mediterranean last Thursday had just been painted in Air New Zealand livery and The Australian says investigators are probing whether the fresh paint led to the crash. Although only two bodies have been recovered, it’s assumed all seven people aboard the four-year-old aircraft died in the crash. The plane had recently been rented to a German airline and was in the process of being returned to Air New Zealand. The cockpit voice recorder has been recovered but the flight data recorder, which will likely provide more insight to the paint-clogged sensor theory, has not.
Meanwhile family and friends have arrived in France to mourn the loss of their loved ones including five from New Zealand: Auckland pilot Captain Brian Horrell, 52, Christchurch engineers Michael Gyles, 49, and Noel Marsh, 35, and Auckland engineer Murray White, 37 and Wellington engineer Jeremy Cook. Two German pilots who died have not been identified.
