Inquiries & Recommendations

Ngā ketuketutanga me ngā tūtohunga

On Thursday 1 September 2005 at about 1625, a rake of 6 wagons that was left unattended on the Down main line during a shunting movement within station limits at Mercer, ran away to the south. The wagons were stopped after they had travelled about 450 metres towards Koheroa Road level crossing. Favourable track gradients and the actions of a staff member prevented the wagons rolling any further. There were no injuries or equipment damage. Safety issues identified included: • the training, certification and assessment processes for new personnel

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.

On Wednesday 10 August 2005, at about 0845, ZK-WWH, a Cessna U206G, took off from Queenstown Aerodrome for Mount Cook Aerodrome with a pilot and 5 passengers on board. Just after take-off, the pilot encountered control difficulties that culminated in the aircraft striking the runway with its left wing tip and failing to remain airborne. The aircraft was substantially damaged, but no one was injured.

On Friday 29 July 2005 at about 0506, a rake of 9 wagons that had been detached from the locomotives of Train 644 ran away to the south from Waingawa. The runaway wagons collided with a motor vehicle at Hodders Road level crossing, about 11.75 kilometres (km) from Waingawa, seriously injuring the driver. The wagons then continued for a further 2.75 km before stopping at about 70.50 km between Dalefield and Matarawa. The driver of the vehicle was taken by ambulance to Wairarapa Hospital, and subsequently air lifted to Wellington Hospital. Safety issues identified included:

On Wednesday 27 July 2005, at about 1428, wagon ZH519 on Train 245, a Karioi to Wellington express freight service, derailed near Ohingaiti, between Mangaweka and Mangaonoho, at 225.127 km on the North Island Main Trunk. The derailed wagon was dragged about one kilometre before the train parted and the brakes were applied automatically. The wood pulp inside the wagon caught fire as a result of the friction heat created by the derailed wheel sets, piercing the wagon deck.

[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 7 July 2005 at 0852, the pilot of ZK-MSL, a Piper PA34 Seneca II, intentionally landed the aircraft at Napier Aerodrome with the landing gear retracted after both normal and emergency procedures failed to extend the nose landing gear. The pilot and the sole passenger were not injured. Aircraft damage was largely confined to the propellers.

On Thursday 9 June 2005 at about 2011, the passenger freight ferry "Santa Regina" was entering Cook Strait from the Tory Channel when the ship departed from the designated passage plan, coming close to grounding on the rocks and islets at East Head. Avoidance action taken by the Mate/Master, who had the con of the ship, prevented the ship grounding and brought it back onto the designated course. Safety issues identified included: • bridge resource management • training and use of modern retro-fitted bridge equipment.

On Thursday 12 May 2005, at about 0410, Train 211, a southbound express freight service, passed signal 8L at the north end of Rangitawa at Stop. The train continued on the main line until the locomotive engineer regained situational awareness and stopped the train. Train 230, a northbound express freight train, was approaching Rangitawa from the south end and had been signalled to enter the loop at the time. When Train 211 passed Signal 8L at Stop, the signal governing the entry of Train 230 into the loop reverted to Stop and Train 230 stopped about 100 m short of the signal.

On Friday 6 May 2005, at about 0720, pier 4 of Bridge 256 between Nuhaka and Opoutama on the Palmerston North-Gisborne Line suffered a catastrophic failure and collapsed while work Train 60 was being piloted across the bridge at the start of a 2-day work programme to underpin pier 4. A 60-tonne rail crane and the adjacent ends of spans 3 and 4 fell into the river. There were 10 staff members making up the work gang, but because they had been moved off the bridge before the work train started to cross, there were no injuries.

On the night of Tuesday 3 May 2005, Fairchild-Swearingen SA227-AC Metro III aeroplane ZK-POA, operated by Airwork (NZ) Limited, was on a night air transport freight flight with 2 crew and 1790 kilograms of cargo when it suffered an in-flight upset which developed into a spiral dive. The crew did not recover control and the aircraft became overstressed and broke up, to fall in pieces about rural farmland near Stratford. Both crew were killed and the aircraft and cargo destroyed.

On Monday 2 May 2005 shortly after 1911, the ferry "Santa Regina" outbound from Picton collided with the inbound private launch "Timeless" in the vicinity of Picton Point, Queen Charlotte Sound. The ship had a Master, 31 crew and 71 passengers on board and the Timeless had 2 persons on board. The bow of the ship struck the starboard side of the launch abaft mid-length, cutting the smaller boat in two. One person on the launch managed to escape from the cabin and climb onto a piece of wreckage to await rescue. The body of the other person on the launch was found about 30 minutes later.