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THREE PEOPLE WERE killed, and four seriously injured, in the crash of an Ansett New Zealand de Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 on 9 June.

The crew, who were among the injured, did not report any emergencies before the crash. The aircraft, which was approaching Palmerston North airport on a flight from Auckland, crashed around 9.00.

The crew had reportedly been executing a newly published instrument approach, which has recently been the subject of pilot controversy because at one point it cleared the rugged terrain by only 1,000ft (300m) at a critical point during the approach.