Inquiries & Recommendations

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At about 2135 on Friday, 12 February 1999, the bulk woodchip carrier "Prince of Tokyo" was outward bound with 20 crew and a harbour pilot on board when it grounded on the western mole at the entrance to Port Otago harbour. The grounding occurred when the bridge team became distracted and were not monitoring the progress of the vessel. Initial attempts to re-float the vessel were unsuccessful. It was eventually re-floated with the assistance of 3 tugs on Sunday, 14 February 1999. There were no injuries, but the vessel suffered extensive underwater damage.

At 1455 hours on 7 September 1994, Train 402, the Rotorua to Auckland "Geyserland Express" collided with a truck on a private farm access crossing, resulting in the death of the truck driver. No specific safety issues were identified.

On Saturday 3 October 2008, the second-to-last wagon on express freight Train 524, wagon UK9007, conveying 2 loaded liquid petroleum gas (LPG) tanks, derailed between Puketutu and Te Kuiti on the NIMT while travelling around a 260-metre (m) radius right-hand curve at the posted line speed of 60 kilometres per hour (km/h).

[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.]

At 1210 hours on Monday 18 December 1995, a Hi-Rail vehicle and a light inspection vehicle collided head-on on a curve near Maxwell, on the Marton - New Plymouth Line. The driver of one of the vehicles sustained rib fractures in the collision, but the two occupants of the other vehicle were uninjured. The cause of the accident was the unauthorised presence of one of the vehicles on that section of line. No specific safety issues were identified as a result of this investigation.

On 8 March 1994, ZK-PKC, a Piper Navajo Chieftain was landed wheels-up at Christchurch after a cable failure rendered the undercarriage lowering system inoperative.

New Zealand has completed its support for this inquiry. Please note: TAIC will not be producing a report for this inquiry.

TAIC calls on KiwiRail to resolve safety issues: risk oversight, risk controls, crashworthiness, crew training. Report also delivers insight into risk assessment, safety training, human factors. For want of these, locomotive went too fast over points, derailed, rolled onto side. All 3 crew escaped, injured.

The Marine Accident Investigation Bureau carried out a limited investigation of this occurrence, assisted by TAIC. On 17/9/09 the Commission closed the inquiry as MAIB is unlikely to produce a full report on the incident. MAIB will publish a report in digest format.

General On 19 February 2009, the Australian-registered passenger ship Oceanic Discoverer was at its berth in the New Zealand port of Napier. The crew were conducting a fire and emergency drill, of which part was to close and test the hydraulically closed watertight doors.

This accident occurred during a dual training flight to revise handling procedures prior to the student pilot being tested for the initial issue of a private pilot licence. One of the exercises to be revised was the recommended recovery procedure in the event of an un-commanded right roll, as might occur when subjected to an acceleration (or force) less than that due to gravity (G). The instructor had no intention of deliberately causing a low-G condition.