Inquiries & Recommendations

Ngā ketuketutanga me ngā tūtohunga

On Sunday 30 November 2003 at about 1015, ZK-HCC, a Hughes 369HS helicopter, was on a scenic flight near the head of Fox Glacier at about 9500 feet when its engine power turbine and main rotor speed suddenly reduced. On board were 4 passengers and the pilot.

On Wednesday, 15 March 2000, at approximately 1928 hours, Train 2139, a diesel multiple unit passenger service, suffered a partial brake failure while descending the grade from Newmarket to Auckland. A permanent 25 km/h speed restriction on curved track approaching the station was negotiated at about 45 km/h before the service came to a stop some 40 m past its normal stopping place. The partial brake failure was caused by a combination of a broken air pipe and a seized air valve.

On 30 March 1994 an incident in which the Locomotive Engineer of Lyttelton to Westport freight train 847, failed to stop his train at the limit of the Track Warrant and overran it by 23 km. The safety issues disclosed by the investigation related to the issue and observance of Track Warrants.

Please see contact ATSB using the link in the sidebar to the right for the full report.

At 1615 hours on 5 October 1994 a pedestrian walking on the track near Woburn Station in the Hutt Valley was struck and fatally injured by a suburban passenger train.

On Saturday 22 July 2000, at about 1927, express freight Train 378 derailed when it entered a crossover at the north end of Te Maunga while travelling too fast. The locomotive was severely damaged when it overturned following the derailment. The locomotive engineer suffered minor injuries. The train controller had incorrectly set a medium speed route to Mount Maunganui instead of the intended high speed route to Tauranga. The locomotive engineer did not react to the unexpected signal aspects displayed. Safety issues identified included:

On Friday 26 March 2004 at about 0215, the fishing boat "Bronny G" grounded on rocks at Steep Head on the Banks Peninsula while on passage from fishing grounds to Lyttelton Harbour. Before abandoning the boat the skipper was unable to transmit a mayday call but was able to use his cellphone to contact his partner ashore, who raised the alarm.

[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 Monday 10 June 2002 at about 1835, Piper PA23-250D Aztec ZK-DIR and Piper PA34-200T Seneca II ZK-MSL were flying the same track from Napier to Paraparaumu and climbing to their respective cruise altitudes when the required vertical separation between them was lost. At one stage the 2 aircraft were possibly at the same altitude, with a lateral separation of less than one km. The pilots were aware of the presence but not the proximity of the other aircraft. The loss of separation was identified only after radar information became available.

At about 1610 on Friday, 2 October 1998, the jet boat "Terminator" was proceeding at a speed of about 65 km/h down one of many secondary channels on a braided section of the Dart River, when the driver was confronted with an obstacle partially blocking a left hand turn in the channel. As the driver attempted to make the turn around the obstruction, his boat struck it, the driver lost control and the boat skidded sideways into a shingle bank and flipped, trapping some of the passengers beneath the boat. The 11 passengers plus the driver suffered minor to serious injuries.

Please contact ATSB using the link in the sidebar on the right for full report

[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.]