Two aircraft came within 20 feet on final approach at night at Ardmore Airport. Safety lessons for pilots, aircraft owners, engineers, and operators of busy unattended aerodromes. Communication, visibility, access to shared procedures make the difference. Recommendations to improve night flying safety across New Zealand.
TAIC reinforces importance of effective supervision of trainees undertaking safety-critical tasks and robust engineering risk controls for complex systems. Lessons for all industries where the supervision of safety-critical tasks performed by inexperienced or unqualified staff is necessary to maintain safety.
Heavy rain contributed to late transition from autopilot to manual control. Lessons for all aircraft operators: ensure crews know and understand the operator’s and aircraft manuals and procedures and are thoroughly briefed. Operator Air New Zealand has amended operational procedures and information and provided pilot training. No new safety recommendations.
A drone likely came close to an passenger jet on approach to a major NZ airport, the drone being in breach of NZ civil aviation rules. TAIC recommends drone registration, remote ID, and geo-fencing, calls on Ministry of Transport and CAA to modernise drone regulations in line with international best practice.
Grounding near Auckland: why the basics always matter. This is a real-world case study and useful training material for what can go wrong when safety critical staff overlook the basics.
The lesson for all high-risk work sites: don’t rely on procedures alone; physical protections are essential. TAIC recommends that KiwiRail: Improve authorisation for rail movements; Require physical protections for removed track; and ensure staffing levels and support for critical roles.
Media release, first published 6 June 2025Substandard ships should be banned from New Zealand, under appropriate criteria, says the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) in its final report into the container ship Shiling, which twice had to be rescued and towed back to port in 2023.TAIC’s Chief Investigator of Accidents, Naveen Kozhuppakalam, says substandard ships represent a real risk to their crew members, to New Zealanders – including coastal and harbour pilots, stevedores, and other contractors – and to New Zealand’s coastal environment.
NB: The below is a brief plain English summary of key points in the report.
Media release, first published 6 June 2025Substandard ships should be banned from New Zealand, under appropriate criteria, says the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) in its final report into the container ship Shiling, which twice had to be rescued and towed back to port in 2023.TAIC’s Chief Investigator of Accidents, Naveen Kozhuppakalam, says substandard ships represent a real risk to their crew members, to New Zealanders – including coastal and harbour pilots, stevedores, and other contractors – and to New Zealand’s coastal environment.“The Commission found that the Shiling had a history of deficiencies and that it’s virtually certain the ship wasn’t seaworthy while in New Zealand.”On 15 April 2023, the Shiling was under pilotage outbound from Wellington and had just initiated a turn into the harbour entrance channel when it suffered a total loss of electrical power, which caused the main engine to stop.
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) says rules and procedures failed to prevent a derailment in Auckland’s Purewa tunnel because critical staff were overloaded, unsupported, and unaware of missing track.TAIC’s final report, published today, investigates how three linked tamper machines* came to derail inside the Purewa tunnel in Auckland just after midnight on 9 October 2023.
Briefly: Grounding near Auckland: new TAIC report reminds us why the basics always matter.
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) is highlighting the need for better identification and control of drones and operators.TAIC investigated a report of a near-collision between an Air New Zealand Airbus passenger flight and what was reported to be a drone, at 2000 feet on the approach to Auckland airport last April.The Commission found that it was very likely to have been a drone, in breach of current rules prohibiting drones from within 4 km of airports except in limited and approved circumstances.Neither the drone nor its operator could be identified.