Inquiries & Recommendations

Ngā ketuketutanga me ngā tūtohunga

On Saturday 20 November 2005 at about 1400, the restricted limit passenger vessel Milford Sovereign, with a Master, 10 crew and 238 passengers on board, was on a cruise of Milford Sound when it was struck by a gust of wind that heeled the ship and turned it from its intended course. The Master was unable to return the ship to its original course, so decided to continue the turn initiated by the wind and took the ship through 180 onto the reciprocal of its original course and returned the ship to the inner Sound.

On Friday 23 June 2006 at about 0627, the Lady Luck, was returning from a fishing trip in bad weather when it collided with Black (Matatapu) Rock near the southern extremity of Motiti Island. The Skipper of the vessel was able to transmit a distress call on very high frequency channel 16 before he and the other 3 persons on board boarded the liferaft and the vessel sank. Maritime Radio, the Coastguard, the operations centre of the Port of Tauranga and another fishing vessel all received the distress message.

Between June 2006 and April 2007 the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (the Commission) launched inquiries into 5 separate platform overrun events on the Auckland suburban rail network. Because there appeared to be a number of common factors contributing to the overruns, they have been combined into this one report.

Shortly after 1415 on Saturday 13 May 2006, while travelling from Kaihuka, in the Breaksea Islands Group to Bluff, the fishing vessel Kotuku capsized and later sank. Six of the 9 persons on board perished. The vessel was recovered for investigative purposes but was declared a constructive total loss by the insurance company. Safety issues identified were: the effectiveness of the safe ship management system to maintain vessel compliance the operation of a commercial fishing vessel to transport passengers the general condition and fitness for purpose of the Kotuku

[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.]

[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 Wednesday 19 April 2006 at about 0005, the fishing boat "Venture" grounded on the beach at the base of a small cliff just to the north of Tipi Bay in Tory Channel while on passage from Picton to Oamaru. After checking the watertight integrity of the boat, the skipper attempted to re-float the boat but was unsuccessful. As the boat was in no immediate danger and the crew had suffered no injuries, the skipper decided to wait until daylight before summoning assistance. The crew of a passing ferry noticed the boat aground and reported the incident to Picton harbour radio.

On Thursday 13 April 2006 at about 1530, ZK-FMU, a Piper PA 23-250 Aztec, was landed intentionally at Napier Aerodrome with its landing gear retracted. On board were a student pilot and an instructor. Nobody was injured. During a normal circuit, the landing gear selector lever broke when the student attempted to select the landing gear down. The instructor could not reach the remaining segment of the lever to select the landing gear down, and neither of the 2 emergency gear lowering systems would work without the gear being selected down.

On Friday 31 March 2006 at about 0520, the locomotive engineer of empty passenger Train 4306 noticed the air brake system operating below normal performance while driving the train between Westfield and Otahuhu at the start of operations for the day. After the train had reached Otahuhu, the locomotive engineer examined the brake system and decided to return to Westfield rather than continue passenger operations. There was no damage or injuries. Safety issues identified included: • purging of contaminants from a locomotive’s air brake piping

On Wednesday 15 March 2006 at about 1710, the auxiliary diesel engine beneath the rear car of diesel multiple unit passenger Train 3163 caught fire when lubricating oil sprayed from a loose hose connection onto the hot surface of the turbo charger. The train manager became aware of the fire when the train stopped at Manurewa station. The train was evacuated and the fire extinguished by the New Zealand Fire Service. There were no injuries.

[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 Friday 3 March 2006 at about 1644, the passenger freight ferry Aratere unexpectedly rolled very heavily to starboard and sheared to port while on passage from Wellington to Picton in heavy weather in Cook Strait. About 30 minutes later the ship rolled heavily several times as the Master attempted to alter course to bring the weather onto the ship’s port bow and gain more clearance from the land. At about 1739, approximately one hour after the initial very heavy roll and shear, the Aratere again rolled very heavily to starboard and sheared to port.