Inquiries & Recommendations

Ngā ketuketutanga me ngā tūtohunga

The aircraft departed on a scenic flight with 50 litres of fuel onboard. After becoming unsure of his position for some time the pilot returned to Napier and joined a right base leg for runway 25 some 1 hour 55 minutes after departure. The engine lost power and after landing the aircraft in the sea the pilot and passenger swum 150 m to shore.

On Tuesday, 6 June 1995 at 1415 hours the pilot was carrying out a snow landing in ZK-HDI in the course of a scenic flight. The right skid began to drop as the pilot settled the helicopter onto the snow so he lifted off and repositioned to a seemingly flatter area 10 to 15 m away. The helicopter tilted to the right again during the second landing, and as the pilot attempted to retrieve the situation the helicopter rolled rapidly onto its right side. The causal factors in this accident were the difficulty of assessing snow conditions accurately and "dynamic rollover".

The right rear main undercarriage of Boeing 767-200 aircraft, registration ZK-NBF, landed at Los Angeles Airport on 6 September 1993. The safety issues discussed are the effectiveness of post-runway excursion of inspections of the undercarriage, the inspection of main undercarriage assemblies which had already been involved in runway excursion incidents and the marking for identification of main undercarriage axles.

TAIC final report. Crew member seriously injured because workmates didn't know what each other was doing. Accidents happen when people don't communicate. Safety-critical worker did unauthorised work, didn't tell responsible officers, negating the abilities and authorities of those in command to keep people safe. Communicate the plan, double-check plan is still the plan, and speak up if danger looms.

At approximately 2240 hours on Thursday, 25 February 1999, Train 230, a northbound express freight, was travelling on the up main just south of McKays Crossing when dragging brake gear on a wagon near the centre of the train hit the spreader bar of the safety turnout where the line converged to single track. The impact caused the facing points to open and derail 19 of the following wagons. The derailment brought down part of the 1500V overhead traction line and blocked State Highway 1. Fatigue breaks in a brake beam assembly caused it to fail allowing the brake gear to drop.

On 7 June 2013 a Boeing 737-838 operated by Jetconnect Limited was undergoing scheduled maintenance at Auckland International Airport. During an inspection of the forward electronics and equipment compartment area under the flight deck, metal filings were found next to the stabiliser trim cable drum. On closer inspection a rag was found trapped under the stabiliser trim cable windings on the forward cable drum.

At about 1150 on Thursday 28 December 2000, a diesel multiple unit Train 3134 collided head on with another diesel multiple unit Train 3130 on the up main line between Penrose and Ellerslie. Train 3130 had become disabled at Ellerslie and with the assistance of a relief diesel multiple unit was setting back to Penrose in a wrong line running movement on the up main line.

During an aerobatic display at Wanaka on 3 April 1994 De Havilland Chipmunk, ZK-TNR, collided with the ground killing the pilot. Factors contributing to the accident probably included a departure from the pilot's recent aerobatic display ventures, the absence of a pre-planned programme of aerobatic manoeuvres, and misjudgement of loss of height and/or a mistaken impression regarding the aircraft height above ground prior to manoeuvre commencement.

During take-off the left tyre blew out causing the aircraft to swerve. The pilot abandoned the take-off but was unable to stop the aircraft before it struck a ditch and a bank where it came to rest.

A student on his first solo cross country lost control of the aircraft and it collided with the terrain. The pilot lost his life in the accident.

The aircraft suffered an in-flight structural failure due to flutter of the tail surfaces originating at the elevator trim tab.

The aircraft landed at Wellington ahead of schedule. All gates were full. While taxiing in a confined area in order to wait for the allocated gate to become clear the right wingtip of the aircraft struck the roof of a nearby covered walkway. A sealed area which would normally have provided a holding bay was occupied by a VIP car and two escort vehicles.