Inquiries & Recommendations

Ngā ketuketutanga me ngā tūtohunga

On Saturday 20 January 1996 at about 0730 hours, Robinson R22 Beta helicopter ZK-HVX collided with trees and terrain during a private venison hunting flight. The shooter was killed, and the pilot was seriously injured. No safety recommendations were made. A safety issue was identified relating to the suitability of this type of helicopter for this operation. Factors in this accident were mishandling of the helicopter, or misjudgement by the pilot while manoeuvring close to the top of the trees.

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.

New Zealand has completed its support under Annex 13 . The ARAIB continues its investigation. For further information please contact ARAIB using the link in the sidebar to the right. Please note: TAIC will not be producing a report for this inquiry.

On Sunday 13 April 2008 at about 1910, the fishing charter vessel Pursuit was lying to its anchor on the south-western side of Murimotu Island, North Cape when it grounded on rocks close to its anchored position. The Pursuit had 5 passengers and 2 crew on board. The New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre and Police mounted a rescue operation using the Northland Emergency Services Trust helicopter but the helicopter was unable to winch anyone to safety owing to the weather conditions.. The vessel was subsequently towed off the rocks by another vessel.

TAIC recommends law change to ban substandard ships from NZ. Commission’s final report on container ship Shiling finds the ship twice needed to be rescued and towed back to port in 2023, due to deferred maintenance. The Shiling had a history of deficiencies, both prior to a change of ownership in 2020 and after. TAIC found it is virtually certain the ship was unseaworthy when in NZ, despite holding valid certificates. TAIC also recommends closing gaps in international ship safety management systems and strengthening NZ’s salvage and rescue capability.

On 30 September 2010 a Bombardier DHC-8-311 aeroplane (often referred to as a Q300 or Dash 8) departed from Wellington International Airport on a scheduled flight to Nelson Aerodrome. The aeroplane diverted to Woodbourne Aerodrome (Blenheim) because of poor weather at Nelson. There were 2 pilots, one flight attendant and 43 passengers on board.

At about 1435 on 7 December 2022, a train collided with a truck and trailer at the Fertilizer Road level crossing near Whangārei. The impact derailed the train’s refuge wagon and toppled the trailer, injuring the rail operator, while the locomotive engineer and the truck’s occupants were unhurt.

The pilot flew a party of five tourists to land on the airstrip near the summit of Mt Tarawera. The approach and touchdown, in tail and crosswind conditions, was routine and an initial application of left brake gave no cause for concern. On the second application there was no response from the left brake and the aircraft began to drift to the right. The aircraft over ran the airstrip, went through some soft ground, and came to rest substantially damaged in a boulder strewn area of alpine scrub. The left mainwheel brake unit disc assembly had been weakened by corrosion and had failed.

On Wednesday 17 August 2005, at 1145, the pilot of ZK-HGI, a Eurocopter AS350 BA helicopter, flew a party of 4 adults and 3 children to a snowfield above Franz Josef Glacier, in South Westland. When approaching to land, the helicopter started to drift right, the skids caught in the soft snow and the helicopter rolled onto its right side. The pilot and passengers were able to vacate the helicopter and, other than some bruising, were not injured.

[A preliminary investigation showed that the circumstances were not likely to have significant implications for transport safety. Consistent with section 13 of the TAIC Act the Commission discontinued the investigation and no report was published.]

On Thursday, 4 December 1997, the tug "Sea-Tow 22" was towing the barge "Sea-Tow 17" inbound across the Greymouth Bar. The tow line parted at about 0500, just as the barge was entering the moles at the entrance to the Grey River. The run in the river carried the barge back out over the bar and, despite several attempts, the crew were not able to retrieve the tow. The tug collided with the barge during one of the retrieval attempts, and ran aground. The barge grounded shortly after. The tug was able to re-float, unaided, on the next rising tide and pull the barge off the beach.

[A preliminary investigation showed that the circumstances were not likely to have significant implications for transport safety. Consistent with section 13 of the TAIC Act the Commission discontinued the investigation and no report was published.]