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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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 3 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 7 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 10 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 11 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 11 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.

Lessons for all pilots from a Fenestron tragedy

Know yourself. Know your aircraft. Know what it’s doing right now.

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

Posted 14 months ago

Everybody knew

“They were an accident waiting to happen” is a regular comment made to CAA’s fatal accident investigators.

Lessons from a cyclone - part 2

Here’s how local operators at Hawke’s Bay Airport maintained safety in the chaotic aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle. And what they learned about preparing for the next emergency.

Posted in Weather, When things go wrong, Health and human factors, General safety, Aerodromes;

Posted 16 months ago

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