Vector Online - In category When things go wrong

Read our special 'online' Vector stories here. Some are unique to the website, and some have featured in print issues of Vector.

Note: This archive dates back to 2015. So, the advice in some of the earlier articles may have changed.

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I learned about near misses from this

Is your ADS-B switched on? How an enjoyable flight on a clear day became a terrifying near miss1.

Posted in Pilot performance flying practice and professionalism, When things go wrong;

Posted 10 days ago

Weather tragedies affect air traffic controllers too

Dave Wiman They may seem far removed from the cockpit, but air traffic controllers (ATCs) have skin in the game.

Posted in Weather, General safety, When things go wrong;

Posted 25 days ago

Survival skills for pilots

Mark Cannell With forests covering more than a third of New Zealand, bush survival skills are a must for GA pilots and crews, says search and rescue veteran Mark Cannell.

Posted in Weather, When things go wrong, General safety;

Posted 32 days ago

Be ready for the emergency

After a forced landing in the bush, this pilot did three things that made the difference between survival and possible death.

Posted in Pilot performance flying practice and professionalism, When things go wrong, General safety;

Posted 4 months ago

I learned about lookout from this

This account of a loss of situational awareness at an unattended aerodrome, has as much relevance today, as it did when it happened some years ago.

Posted in Pilot performance flying practice and professionalism, Aerodromes, General safety, When things go wrong;

Posted 9 months ago

It won't happen to me

It hasn’t happened yet so it never will? Complacency can be a killer. Imagine driving down a familiar country road, a route you’ve travelled countless times.

Posted in Pilot performance flying practice and professionalism, General safety, When things go wrong;

Posted 12 months ago

Mike's story

Fatal accident stats are not just numbers. They’re real people who leave real people behind.

Patterns of rule-breaking

Analysis of fatal accidents spanning the past 15 years has identified patterns of repeated rule-breaking prior to those accidents.

Posted in When things go wrong, General safety, Pilot performance flying practice and professionalism;

Posted 12 months ago

Your family doesn't want to have to meet us

It’s never ‘just a job’ for our safety investigators to have to meet a family bereaved by an aviation tragedy.

Posted in Pilot performance flying practice and professionalism, Operators, When things go wrong;

Posted 13 months ago

High safety

In 1972, in the first issue of Vector, we reported a fatal aircraft accident in the lee of a mountain range.