Incident Overview
On a charter flight from Milford Sound to Queenstown, two Cessna 207 Skywagon aircraft, operated by Air Fiordland (registration ZK-DQF) and Milford Sound Scenic Flights (registration ZK-DAX), collided mid-air while cruising over the Milford Sound area. Aircraft ZK-DQF carried six passengers and one pilot; aircraft ZK-DAX carried four passengers and one pilot. All occupants were Japanese tourists.
Emergency Response
Following the collision, the pilot of ZK-DAX was able to perform an emergency landing, and all five occupants were rescued. In contrast, ZK-DQF entered a dive and crashed, resulting in the deaths of all seven occupants. Both aircraft were destroyed.
Probable Cause
The official investigation determined that the mid-air collision occurred because neither pilot saw the other aircraft in time. Causal factors identified included the pilot's restricted cockpit vision, a lack of pilot awareness to maintain an effective look-out, the unnecessarily high density of traffic, and the unplanned merging of two streams of aircraft after a weather deterioration necessitated a change in route after departure.