Eric Bennett Hertz (31 December 1954 – 30 March 2013) was an American executive and the CEO of

2degrees Two Degrees New Zealand Limited, trading as 2degrees, is a New Zealand full service  telecommunications provider. It's the third-largest wireless carrier in New Zealand, with 1.6 million subscribers as of May 2021. Since launching its  mo ...

, New Zealand's third largest mobile telecommunications company at the time of his leadership. Hertz was responsible for the installation of the first cellular phone system in

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

in the 1980s. His future wife, Kathy, worked in a management role for

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

in New York and New Jersey; they married in 1983. He worked for

BellSouth BellSouth, LLC (stylized as ''BELLSOUTH'' and formerly known as BellSouth Corporation) was an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after ...

in Ecuador, where he learnt to speak Spanish fluently. Hertz moved to New Zealand with his wife and daughter in 2009 and had acquired permanent residency, calling New Zealand home. In his opinion, quality of life in New Zealand was unequalled and he "didn't know why people leave". Under his leadership 2degrees grew its customer base to over one million connections. Hertz and his wife, Katherine (Kathy) Marie Picone Hertz, died after their twin-engine

Beechcraft Baron The Beechcraft Baron is a light twin-engined piston aircraft designed and produced by Beechcraft. The aircraft was introduced in 1961. A low-wing monoplane developed from the Travel Air, it remains in production. Design and development The ...

crashed into the sea near

Kawhia Harbour Kawhia Harbour () is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres southwest of Hamilton, Ne ...

on Saturday, 30 March 2013

NZDT Time in New Zealand is divided by law into two standard time, standard time zones. The main islands use New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), 12 hours in advance of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) / Military time zone, military M (Mike), while ...

. The plane was found on the seafloor, underwater, on 2 April. In a statement, Hertz's family thanked New Zealanders for their support. Hertz was succeeded as CEO of

by chairman Stewart Sherriff.

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; ) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of eight ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act 1913, and the subsequent acquisition of the cruiser , whi ...

diving ship HMNZS ''Manawanui'' was sent to the site of the submerged plane on 5 April, and local

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

put a

rāhui In Māori culture, a rāhui is a form of tapu restricting access to, or use of, an area or resource by the kaitiaki (guardian/s) of the area in the spirit of '' kaitiakitanga''. With the passing of the 1996 Fisheries Act, a rāhui was able to ...

on the area. The aircraft wreckage was recovered and moved to the

Devonport Naval Base Devonport Naval Base is the home of the Royal New Zealand Navy, located at Devonport, New Zealand on Auckland's North Shore, New Zealand, North Shore. It is currently the only base of the navy that operates ships, and has been in use as a n ...

for examination by

Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAA) ( Māori: ''Te Mana Rererangi Tūmatanui o Aotearoa'') is the government agency tasked with establishing civil aviation safety and security standards in New Zealand. The CAA also monitors adhere ...

(CAA) accident investigators. The CAA concluded that for unknown reasons, the aircraft's

airspeed In aviation, airspeed is the speed of an aircraft relative to the air it is flying through (which itself is usually moving relative to the ground due to wind). In contrast, the ground speed is the speed of an aircraft with respect to the sur ...

decreased to the point that control could not be maintained, causing it to enter a

spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

from which Hertz did not recover. The aircraft had an aftermarket

turbocharger In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into th ...

system installed under a

supplemental type certificate A supplemental type certificate (STC) is a civil aviation authority-approved major modification or repair to an existing type certified aircraft, engine or propeller. As it adds to the existing type certificate, it is deemed "supplemental". In ...

(STC) and previously had a left-hand turbocharger problem that was never conclusively diagnosed; investigators found that the left-hand engine control settings were abnormal, suggesting that Hertz had been troubleshooting in flight, and found anomalies in the left engine intake ducting and a separated left engine manifold pressure line, which the STC manufacturer said would cause a partial but not complete loss of engine power. The CAA determined that the Baron was flying in thick clouds (

instrument meteorological conditions In aviation, instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) are weather conditions that require pilots to fly primarily by reference to flight instruments, and therefore under instrument flight rules (IFR), as opposed to flying by outside visual ref ...

) at the time, and speculated that while Hertz was dealing with an undetermined left-hand engine problem, the

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of a vehicle without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator's control of the vehicle, allow ...

applied full nose-up

trim Trim or TRIM may refer to: Cutting * Cutting or trimming small pieces off something to remove them ** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process ** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees Decoration * Trim (sewing), or ...

to maintain altitude, causing the airspeed to steadily decay, which Hertz did not notice due to a lack of

situational awareness Situational awareness or situation awareness, often abbreviated as SA is the understanding of an environment, its elements, and how it changes with respect to time or other factors. It is also defined as the perception of the elements in the envi ...

in the clouds. The CAA further noted that Hertz had been prescribed medication for

major depressive disorder Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive depression (mood), low mood, low self-esteem, and anhedonia, loss of interest or pleasure in normally ...

and

generalized anxiety disorder Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by excessive, uncontrollable and often irrational worry about events or activities. Worry often interferes with daily functioning. Individuals with GAD are often overly con ...

, which had not been reported to his

aviation medical examiner An Aviation Medical Examiner or Aero-medical Examiner (AME) is a physician designated by the national aviation authority and given the authority to perform flight physical examinations and issue aviation medical certificates. AMEs are practitioner ...

s; this should have disqualified him from holding both his New Zealand

pilot licence Pilot licensing or certification refers to permits for operating aircraft. Flight crew licences are issued by the civil aviation authority of each country, which must establish that the holder has met minimum knowledge and experience before issui ...

and his United States pilot certificate.

References

External links

Obituary
''Seattle Times'' 1954 births 2013 deaths New Zealand chief executives People with mood disorders Wharton School alumni {{NewZealand-business-bio-stub Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2013 Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in New Zealand