Inquiries & Recommendations

Ngā ketuketutanga me ngā tūtohunga

On 24 February 2013 a Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter operated by Volcanic Air Safaris Limited had just departed on its second scenic flight for the day, with the pilot and three passengers on board, when the engine lost power. The pilot put the helicopter into autorotation and turned the helicopter towards the shoreline, where she carried out a successful ditching in shallow water near the lake edge. The pilot and passengers were able to evacuate the helicopter uninjured. They were picked up shortly afterwards by a nearby jet boat.

Please see TSB website for the full report using the link in the sidebar to the right.

A freight train hauling 36 wagons derailed soon after leaving Glenbrook for Mount Maunganui. Nobody was hurt, but there was extensive damage to the track, wagons and steel freight, and the line was closed for 3.5 days. The Commission found that brakes had failed because operating staff didn’t configure them correctly. Key learnings include the need for operating staff to follow established procedure and stay alert when working shifts.

Please see contact ATSB using the link in the sidebar to the right for the full report.

The Commission found that the fire was seated amongst bales of polypropylene bags that were stored in the fishmeal bagging room, but was unable to establish with any certainty what started the fire. The Commission also found that the Amaltal Columbia's design and systems for the prevention, detection, containment and fighting of a fire met the standards of the applicable maritime rules; however, there were some aspects that could have been improved, and the consequences of the fire could have been lessened, with a more risk-based approach to operations.

On Friday 31 August 2012 a scheduled Auckland metropolitan passenger train was travelling south from Britomart Station to Manukau Station. The train had stopped at Puhinui Station to exchange passengers. While it was sitting at the station, train control set the wrong route for the train through Wiri Junction. The route was set to take the train straight through to Papakura instead of diverging to the Manukau Branch Line. The signal ahead of the train was showing the driver that his train was routed for Papakura instead of Manukau. However, the driver did not recognise this.

On 24 August 2012, the passenger fishing charter vessel Torea was taking a group of passengers on a fishing charter in the Foveaux Strait area. There were 24 passengers and 3 crew members on board. The Torea was only permitted to carry 20 passengers. The skipper was unaware that he had more than 20 passengers on board. While fishing for cod close to Seal Rocks in the area off Ruapuke Island, the Torea struck an uncharted rock as the skipper was increasing speed to move to another area.

On Wednesday 1 August 2012, a southbound freight train was travelling from Picton to Christchurch. At the same time a northbound freight train was travelling from Christchurch to Picton. The train controller had planned to cross the trains at the Pines track warrant station.

Please contact ATSB using the link in the sidebar on the right for full report

On 20 June 2012 an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 was landing at Wellington International Airport when it suffered a bird strike to its right engine. The bird strike did not affect the landing. The bird was later identified as a black-backed gull. Maintenance engineers inspected the engine in accordance with the Airbus aircraft maintenance manual and released it back into revenue service later the same day for a flight to Auckland with 172 persons on board, including five crew members.

A KiwiRail Holdings Limited freight train (Train 229) consisting of two locomotives hauling 33 wagons was travelling from Auckland to Wellington overnight on 2 and 3 May 2012. At 0034 on 3 May one of four sets of wheels on the fifth wagon derailed. The wagon was dragged for nearly three kilometres in that state to a rail junction at Maewa, about 22 kilometres north of Palmerston North, where it and five other wagons completely derailed.

At about 1600 on 26 April 2012, the four train control workstations in the Auckland control room located in the Wellington National Train Control Centre (train control) suddenly lost power and shut down. As a consequence, all of the signals in the Auckland metropolitan area automatically reverted to red ("Stop") and all rail movements in Auckland progressively stopped.