Inquiries & Recommendations

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At about 0808 on 7 October 2014, a Robinson R44 helicopter (the helicopter) crashed into steep bush to the northeast of Mt Arthur, in the Kahurangi National Park. The helicopter was being flown from Karamea to Nelson for scheduled maintenance, through an area of forecast high winds and turbulence, at the time of the accident. The helicopter broke up in flight after one of the main rotor blades struck the cabin and the main rotor assembly separated from the rest of the helicopter. The pilot, who was the only occupant, was killed.

The Captain M. J. Souza is a New Zealand-registered purse seine fishing vessel that was operating in the Pacific Ocean approximately 650 nautical miles north of Samoa. On 24 August the vessel was engaged in a routine fishing operation when a nylon rope sling that was securing one end of the fishing net to the vessel broke. The weight of the net was then transferred to an approximately 48-millimetre-diameter nylon rope called a safety choker line, which was designed to retain the net end in the event of the rope sling failing.

In August 2014, a Squirrel helicopter (AS350) took a ski party to a high ridgeline on Mount Alta near Mount Aspiring National Park. The helicopter struck the steep, snowy slope and rolled down the mountain. One occupant died and all others were injured.

On the rail bridge between Dalefield and Featherston on the Wairarapa Line, an empty passenger train nearly ran into an excavator work group. The train driver saw the work group and stopped the train in time. Nobody was hurt. The Commission found that KiwiRail processes were not entirely followed, leading to Train Control being wrongly under the impression that the worksite was clear. The Rail Protection Officer’s fatigue and sleep inertia where other likely factors.

On 5 August 2014 an aeroplane on a sightseeing flight charter around the lower South Island crashed near the Poolburn Reservoir, killing the pilot and seriously injuring the two passengers. The aeroplane aerodynamically stalled while being manoeuvred at low level in the vicinity of an airstrip located on remote farmland. The stall occurred at a height that was insufficient to enable recovery before the aircraft struck the ground.

On 17 June 2014 a track maintenance work area had been established between National Park and Raurimu on the North Island Main Trunk line. Part of the work involved the use of an excavator designed to operate on the rails.

On 15 April 2013 a two-car Matangi passenger train was operating the service from Wellington to Melling Station. As the train was slowing on the approach to Melling Station it encountered slippery track conditions, and despite the efforts of the train driver the train collided with the stop block just past the station platform. The train was damaged and three passengers received first aid, with one sustaining minor injuries. The force of the collision lifted the concrete stop block out of the ground.

New Zealand has completed its support for this inquiry. For further information please contact NTSB using the link in the sidebar to the right. Please note: TAIC will not be producing a report for this inquiry.

On 5 May 2014 the pilot of a BK117 helicopter with four other people on board experienced a double engine power loss during a hospital patient transfer flight between Ashburton and Christchurch. The pilot made an emergency landing without power onto farmland near Springston, with no injuries sustained by the occupants and minor damage to the helicopter.

On 14 April 2014 the general cargo vessel Da Dan Xia was berthed at the port of Wellington, New Zealand, preparing to load a cargo of logs. The crew were conducting a launch-and-retrieval drill for the vessel's freefall lifeboat, using the "alternative" launching and retrieval davit.

In the early hours of 2 March 2014, a diesel-hauled, four-carriage passenger train had completed passenger operations for the night and was returning empty from Waitakere for overnight stabling in the yard in Otahuhu, near Westfield. There were the train driver and one train manager on board.

On Thursday 27 February 2014 the Northern Explorer passenger train was on its journey from Auckland to Wellington. The train passed through Te Kauwhata station at 0937 with 108 passengers and five crew on board, heading towards the Te Onetea Road level crossing about 3.5 kilometres further south.