Inquiries & Recommendations

Ngā ketuketutanga me ngā tūtohunga

During the course of a scenic flight over Fox Glacier, the helicopter's engine seemed to lose power and the pilot made an autorotational descent on to the glacier. Two of the passengers were fatally injured during the ensuing impact on the extensively crevassed and pinnacled ice-fall, and the pilot and one of the two surviving passengers received serious injuries.

On 10 December 1993 express freight train 210 encountered a "stop and proceed" signal at Stop at Puhinui, 1.5 km south of Papatoetoe. In accordance with the signalling rules, the Locomotive Engineer stopped, and after a short interval, proceeded. He subsequently had to make an emergency brake application to avoid a collision with a stationary train ahead of him. The safety issues identified in this report were the need for guidelines for Locomotive Engineers to assess their fitness for duty and rest facilities for Locomotive Engineers while waiting for trains.

At 1651 on 19 July 2021, the second and third carriages parted on a KiwiRail-operated Auckland to Hamilton southbound Te Huia passenger train travelling at 91 kilometres per hour. The parting occurred at about 636.9 kilometres (see Site Information paragraph 2.76) between Papakura and Pukekohe on the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT), and caused the brakes to automatically apply in both train portions as air hoses between the carriages separated. There were no injuries, but some damage to inter-carriage electrical jumper cables.

When the pilot of ZK-EVA attempted to join formation with ZK-EQM, the aircraft collided and ZK-EQM entered a spiral descent into a paddock. A portion of ZK-EQM struck the passenger of ZK-EVA, ZK-EVA returned to Palmerston North Aerodrome.

On 22 December 1994, Piper PA 32-260 (Cherokee Six) ZK-DDF landed heavily on Waiheke Island Aerodrome. The aircraft sustained wing and undercarriage damage, but none of the four occupants was injured. The causal factor in this accident was the turbulence encountered during the approach and landing phase of the flight. No safety deficiencies were revealed by the investigation.

The pilot made two approaches to the 430m two-way airstrip, oriented 330/150, to assess the surface wind and decide the most appropriate direction in which to land. Both his approaches were toward the northwest and involved a go-around from 200 feet and 100 feet respectively. On the third approach at about 20 or 30 feet agl the pilot noted the groundspeed of the aircraft was too high and not reducing normally.

On Sunday 18 February 1996 at 1430 hours ZK-FMO, a Piper PA32R-300 Lance, force-landed along a road shortly after take-off on runway 03 at North Shore Aerodrome. One passenger received serious injuries, and the pilot and three other passengers received minor injuries. The cause of the accident was the pilot's attempt to take-off with insufficient runway length available, for the prevailing conditions and the weight of the aircraft. [The following paragraph was added by addenda finalised on 5 August 1998.]

At 1215 hours on 22 November 1994 ZK-ENZ, a Piper PA32, lost power on its landing approach to runway 27 at North Shore Aerodrome and landed short of the runway. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The safety issue discussed is the importance of sound fuel management by pilots.

On Monday 14 September 1998 at about 1152 hours, ZK-DKL, a Cessna 177B Cardinal on an air transport scenic flight across the Mount Cook region struck a snow-covered mountain face 11 km north-east of Mount Cook. The pilot and two passengers died as a result of the impact.

ZK-CVG was on a positioning flight from Mount Cook to Fox Glacier in order to conduct some scenic flights, while ZK-HEA was on a local scenic flight from Fox Glacier when a collision occurred. ZK-HEA was landed safely but ZK-CVG descended out of control to the riverbed. The pilot was killed in the ground impact.

The aircraft had been chartered to fly a German group to a number of tourist destinations in New Zealand. It had departed from Glentanner on a VFR flight to Queenstown. The flight was to include scenic flying in the Mount Cook region. A "taxiing" call was received at 1153 hours but later attempts by Christchurch Flight Information to communicate with the aircraft were unsuccessful. Aircraft wreckage, which proved to be that of ZK-NOM, was sighted during the afternoon in a severely crevassed and pinnacled area of Franz Josef Glacier, at an elevation of 4500 feet amsl.

TAIC provided accredited representative assistance to KNKT in Indonesia’s investigation. Nose wheel of Fletcher fertilizer aircraft impacted farm animal on runway, nose wheel collapsed.