Originally Posted by
I spy
Yeah, bloody bit dramatic, huh?
The New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission is merely acting on a request for assistance from Chilean civil aviation authorities who have jurisdiction over investigating this incident due to the airliner being in international airspace when it occurred and the airliner being on the Chilean civil register. However, because NZ was the nearest country and that is where the airliner landed and is now grounded, I guess it is only natural for Chilean civil aviation authorities to ask TAIC to secure all evidence until they can get their own investigators to Auckland. Under the Transport Accident Investigation Commission's charter, they are required to render assistance to foreign civil aviation and maritime authorities if requested. For those of you outside NZ, TAIC's mandate is to investigate, on a no blame basis, accidents and serious operating incidents in the aviation, maritime and railway transport modes. Their primary purpose is not to point the finger, but to get to the bottom of what actually occurred, any relevant background information, what can be learned from the findings, and how such an occurrence can be prevented from happening in the future. Any legal prosecutions in NZ come not from TAIC, but from other government agencies and regulatory bodies, such as NZ Civil Aviation Authority, NZ Maritime Authority, Waka Kotahi NZ Land Transport Agency, or NZ Police.