Inquiries & Recommendations

Ngā ketuketutanga me ngā tūtohunga

In the early morning of 7 March 2007, while fishing about 195 nm off the west coast of the North Island, the longline fishing vessel Walara-K took on water in its engine room and sank in 500 m of water within 3 hours. The 3 crew members were able to abandon ship into a liferaft from which they were rescued within 6 hours. The vessel was not recovered. The loss of the vessel and the absence of key documents have resulted in the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (the Commission) being unable to determine the exact reason for the ship

Between March 2007 and October 2009 there were 5 derailments involving container wagons conveying single 6-metre (m) containers loaded with bulk grain, positioned on the leading ends of the wagons. The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (the Commission) combined the events into a single inquiry.

On Thursday 22 February 2007 at about 2200, the passenger vessel Cruise Cat collided with the outer starboard-hand light beacon at the entrance to the Waikato River at the northern end of Lake Taupo when returning from an evening dinner cruise with 90 passengers and 4 crew on board. After the skipper had checked the watertight integrity of the vessel and the passengers for injuries the Cruise Cat was returned to its berth at Taupo Marina where all the passengers were discharged without further incident.

On Friday 5 January 2007, at about 2200, the leading bogie of UK6765, the rear wagon on Christchurch to Picton express freight Train 736, derailed at 309.643 kilometres (km) on the Main North Line. The derailed wagon was dragged a further 3.5 km until it struck the south end main line points at Vernon, derailing the wagon immediately in front. The derailed wagons were pulled another kilometre before the locomotive engineer became aware of the derailed wagons and brought the train to a stop. There were no injuries.

On 30 December 2006, a fire occurred in the left General Electric CF6-80C2 engine nacelle of a Boeing 767 aircraft as it taxied clear of the runway after landing at Auckland International Airport. The fire was promptly extinguished and the minor damage was confined within the nacelle.

On Thursday 21 December 2006, Piper PA23-250-E, registration Aztec ZK-PIW, was part-way through a training flight when after an intermediate landing the pilots observed an indication warning of a possible fault with the nose landing gear. The fault was rectified and the aircraft diverted to Ardmore at the request of an engineer. During the flight to Ardmore, a second landing gear indication fault occurred, this time with the right landing gear.

On 11 December 2006, a Kawasaki-Hughes 369HS helicopter, registered ZK-HDJ, took off with the pilot and 4 passengers on board from near Crater Lake on Mount Ruapehu, at an elevation of about 8300 feet. The pilot could not climb the helicopter above the surrounding terrain, so he descended towards the lake to accelerate the helicopter towards its best-angle-of-climb speed. The helicopter hit the lake surface and came to rest on the shore of the lake. All of the occupants were injured and the helicopter was destroyed. Safety issues identified included:

On Sunday 10 December 2006 at about 1230, the fishing vessel Santa Maria II with a skipper, 4 crew members and a Ministry of Fisheries observer on board was fishing off the Kermadec Islands in Fisheries Management Area 10 when a fire was discovered in the engine room. The skipper issued a distress message while the rest of the crew sealed the engine room and attempted to discharge fire suppressant into the engine room.

On Saturday 2 December 2006, Partenavia P68B ZK-MYF, a light twin-engine aeroplane, was being flown on a cross-country training flight from Napier to Palmerston North, when it had a power loss near Waipukurau. The instructor completed a forced landing into a paddock resulting in moderate damage to the aircraft. There were no injuries.

On 27 November 2006, about 8 minutes after departing Wellington airport on a scheduled flight to Kaikoura with one passenger, the pilot of a Gippsland Aeronautics GA8 aircraft, registered ZK-KLC, felt the engine misfire and saw that the oil pressure had reduced. The pilot immediately returned to Wellington and made a safe landing. The engine had major internal damage, which the evidence indicated had started with the failure of an exhaust valve tappet. The cause of the tappet failure was not determined.

On Tuesday 21 November 2006, at about 1120, Tram 244, operated by Christchurch Tramway Limited, lost its air brake after striking a traffic warning cone. The tram then collided with the rear motor vehicle in a line of cars stopped for a traffic signal. The impact pushed the car forward into a nose-to-tail collision with two cars ahead of it. The tram sustained minor damage and 3 cars were extensively damaged. There were no injuries.

On Thursday 9 November 2006, ZK-HUC, a Robinson R44 helicopter carrying 3 police officers and the pilot, collided with an electricity transmission line during a coastal search. The helicopter incurred minor damage and the pilot landed immediately. He subsequently twice shifted the helicopter to avoid sea damage and to facilitate recovery of the helicopter. The pilot received a serious injury but none of the passengers were injured.