Inquiries & Recommendations

Ngā ketuketutanga me ngā tūtohunga

On Monday 31 October 2011, a "super-low-floor" urban bus crossed the Beach Road level crossing at Paekakariki, 38.62 kilometres north of Wellington, and stopped at the road intersection with State Highway 1, where it became stuck. There were 3 sets of tracks at the level crossing and the bus encroached on 2 of these tracks. There were 6 passengers plus the driver on the bus.

On Tuesday 20 October 1998, at approximately 1258 hours, the sliding doors on an Auckland to Waitakere commuter train closed on a child in a pushchair as the mother was endeavouring to lift the pushchair from the train to the platform at Swanson. While attempts were being made to free the pushchair the train moved slowly forward before the doors were opened sufficiently to allow the pushchair to be freed.

On Saturday 4 May 2002, at approximately 1150, a child fell from a carriage of Train 1337, the Rain Forest Express, while it was travelling through Tunnel 29 on the Nihotupu Tramline. The child was seriously injured when he was crushed between a 610 mm diameter water pipeline and the moving train. The safety issues identified were: • the lack of physical constraints on passenger carriages to prevent passengers from falling out while the train was in motion • the adequacy and construction of the compartment doors • the staffing of the train

Despite warning signs, a train driver only noticed a maintenance team working on a rail bridge as the train drew close. The train crossed the bridge without authorisation while the workers were still under it. No injuries, no damage to train or bridge. KiwiRail now has a system to investigate and resolve potential faults in safety systems. TAIC recommendations address medical data capture; sleep apnoea detection; and the need for a good fatigue risk management system.

On Tuesday, 11 September 2001, at about 1130, ZK-HWI, a Bell Jetranger 206B II helicopter took off normally for a chemical spraying flight. On board the helicopter were an instructor pilot and a trainee who was the pilot flying the helicopter. Shortly after take-off, when the helicopter was climbing away, the drive to the engine power turbine tachometer generator failed, causing the power turbine gauge indication to decrease. The instructor pilot, believing the helicopter was losing power, immediately took control of the helicopter and instinctively lowered the collective lever.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigated this accident on behalf of TAIC. Using the link in the sidebar to the right.

On Sunday 20 February 2005 at about 1300, the Driving Creek Train Linx derailed at Peg 1660. The rear bogie of the last passenger set derailed and was dragged about 15 m before one of the derailment bars hit a rail joint fishplate, causing the rear bogie to jump further to the left-hand side of the track. One passenger received moderate injuries. In the afternoon of Sunday 27 February 2005, the rear bogie of the last passenger set of the Train Linx derailed to the inside of a tight right-hand curve at Peg 1270 on the Driving Creek Railway. There were no injuries.

On Sunday 12 November 1995 at about 1240 hours Train 600, the Northbound "Bay Express" express passenger service between Wellington and Napier, derailed at Pukehou between Waipukurau and Hastings on the Palmerston North Gisborne Line. The train was travelling at approximately 90 km/h when the locomotive, power/baggage van and an empty passenger carriage left the tracks on a right hand curve. The two rear carriages carrying passengers remained on the rails.

On 30 September 2019, a 47-minute outage disrupted Airways New Zealand’s air traffic services. Christchurch controllers lost radar data and primary communications, operating in a degraded display mode and using backup systems. Auckland controllers experienced a shorter loss before switching to local bypass surveillance. Despite the disruption, all 41 domestic flights in controlled airspace landed safely with no loss of separation.

During boarding in adverse weather conditions for a flight from Wellington to Tauranga, a passenger was pushed sideways by a wind gust as she approached the airstair. Attempting to regain her balance, she walked into a blade tip of the four bladed left propeller which had been feathered on shutdown and was stationary but had been partially rotated by the wind from the normal parked position. The passenger received a cut forehead which required 13 stitches. Safety recommendations were made to the Airport company and the Operator.

This report examines 3 derailments due to washouts and slips (occurrences 02-101, 02-102 and 02-103) caused by inclement weather in the South Island during January 2002. No serious injuries were sustained but the opportunity existed in each case for more serious and potentially life threatening injuries to have occurred. Safety issues identified by these incidents included: • the lack of a formalised early warning river flow level notification process for the Rangitata River • the lack of staff available to respond to operating contingencies during the holiday period

On Wednesday 15 December 2004 at about 1450, ZK-JES, a Cessna 172, on a flight from Kerikeri to Waitiki Airstrip, ditched in Cable Bay when the pilot could no longer continue flying visually, because of the weather conditions. One of the 2 passengers drowned, and the other passenger and the pilot were seriously injured.