The engineers placed themselves in danger to save a ship in gale force weather conditions in Bass Strait after its main engine became disabled according to an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation report released today. The ATSB report states that the Hong Kong registered container ship, Maersk Tacoma, spent 19 hours adrift before being taken in tow on 8 August 2001. The incident is still the subject of legal action in London between the ship's owners and various other parties. The ATSB waited for 34 months to obtain the engineering report from the owner's representatives on…

The ATSB investigation into the fatal Piper Seneca accident on 11 November 2003, at Bankstown Airport has found that the aircraft departed from controlled flight at a height from which recovery was not possible. The reason for the loss of control could not be determined. The aircraft was being operated on a multi-engine aircraft training flight with a flight instructor and student pilot on board. After commencing a go-around, the aircraft was observed to diverge to the right of the runway centreline, climb and bank steeply to the right before impacting the ground in a steep nose-down attitude…

The ATSB's final report into a Boeing 747 brake fire accident that resulted in the serious injury of three passengers and one pilot found that incorrect grease had been applied to the aircraft's landing gear and that one of the over-wing evacuation slides had failed due to overload of its fabric fibres during the evacuation. The aircraft had just arrived at the Sydney terminal after a flight from Singapore. The factors that contributed to the three small brake fires included: the presence of incorrect and excessive amounts of grease on the aircraft's landing gear axles, the inadvertent de-…

A leak in the main water ballast line in the engine room of the Panamanian registered bulk carrier Harmonic Progress led to the ship becoming disabled in the Coral Sea at 1230 on 16 April 2004, according to an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation report released today. The ATSB report into the disabling of Harmonic Progress states that the flow of water ballast into the engine room bilges was not sufficiently controlled before it reached a depth of 1.5 metres. At that depth, the water entered the motors for the main engines lubricating oil pumps and caused them to short…

The ATSB's final report into the tragic helicopter accident near Mackay that killed all three crewmembers found that spatial disorientation of the pilot was likely and includes a number of safety recommendations to prevent a recurrence. The Bell 407 helicopter, operating under the night Visual Flight Rules (VFR), was en-route from Mackay to Hamilton Island, to pick up a patient, when it crashed into the sea. The report found that the circumstances of the accident combined most of the risk factors known to be associated with helicopter Emergency Medical Services (EMS) accidents. These included…

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation report released today deals with the collision between a ship, Asian Nova, and a fishing vessel, Sassenach, off Townsville on 29 May 2003 in which a local fisherman lost his life. The fishing vessel's skipper lost his life as a result of the collision, his body was recovered from the sunken trawler on 5 June 2003. The boat's other crew member, the deckhand, was able to jump clear at impact and was rescued some five hours later by a searching fishing boat. Poor watch handover practices and a poor lookout were identified as major…

The ATSBs final report into the fatal aircraft accident at Jandakot on 11 August 2003 has determined that the aircrafts right engine lost power soon after take-off when its engine driven fuel pump seized. The Cessna 404 was being operated by one pilot and had five passengers who were to operate specialised equipment on the aircraft during maritime operations approximately 40 NM west of Jandakot. One passenger did not vacate the aircraft and was fatally injured. The pilot and the other four passengers sustained serious injuries as they vacated the aircraft. One of those passengers died from…

Over reliance on the accuracy of Global Positioning System (GPS) derived positions by a watchkeeper contributed to the grounding of the 35 m adventure cruise vessel True North at about 2300 on 7 August 2004, according to an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation report released today. The ATSB report into the grounding of True North in the approach passage to St. George Basin, in Western Australia's Kimberley region, states that the vessel grounded on or near Strong Tide Point after a voyage from Prince Frederick Harbour. On board at the time of the grounding were 26…

The ATSB's preliminary examination of recorders from the fatal Metroliner accident has found good data on the aircraft flight data recorder but not on the cockpit voice recorder. The two recorders were located in the aircraft wreckage on the afternoon following the accident and carried to the ATSB Canberra laboratories, arriving at 7 pm on Monday. Both recorders were heat affected from the post-accident fire. Useful data of reasonably good quality has been retrieved from the flight data recorder (FDR) and detailed verification and analysis of that information has commenced. The FDR contained…

The ATSB has found that severe corrosion over a long period led to two deaths when a lifeboat fell 16 metres during a safety drill. The two crew died and three were seriously injured in a lifeboat accident on board the Hong Kong registered Lowlands Grace while the ship was anchored off Port Hedland, Western Australia, on 7 October 2004. The five casualties were members of the crew who had boarded one of the ship's lifeboats during a planned lifeboat drill. While it was being lowered, the lifeboat's after on-load release hook failed and released the stern of the 3.5 tonne boat from its davit…