Past Programs
Accidents - 2008
Qantas mid-air incident and injuries
08/10/2008
Eleven people were seriously injured in yesterday's mid-flight incident on a Qantas jet over WA, and were airlifted to Perth overnight. Their plane, travelling from Singapore to Perth with 303 passengers and 10 crew on board, suddenly lost altitude and was forced to make an emergency landing in Exmouth.
Steve Fossett's plane found
03/10/2008
Police in the United States have confirmed that the wreckage of a light plane found in a remote area of eastern California is that of millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, who disappeared just over a year ago.
The search for the plane resumed after a hiker found items belonging to Steve Fossett yesterday including ID cards, a faded sweatshirt and a thousand dollars in cash.
Madrid crash
21/08/2008
At least 145 people are feared dead after a passenger plane swerved off the runway at Madrid's Barajas Airport in Spain. The Spanair flight carrying 166 passengers and 9 crew en route for the Canary Islands was about to take off when the tragedy occurred, mid-afternoon Spanish time.
It is believed one of the plane's engines caught fire before the plane crashed and burst into flames. There are unconfirmed reports of 28 survivors, eight of them in critical condition, who were flung from the plane by the force of the impact and landed in a stream, saving them from more severe burns.
2008 Used Car Safety Ratings study: small cars safer
23/07/2008
It's not often that there's good news for motorists struggling with high fuel prices, but new data shows that smaller cars, which are cheaper to run, are often safer as well. The 2008 Used Car Safety Ratings study, jointly funded by the NRMA and Roads and Traffic Authority, analysed data from more than three million road crashes in Australia and New Zealand in the ten years to 2006.
The study, the largest of its kind in the world, shows that in terms of safety, we should forget petrol-guzzling four wheel drives and big V8s. The organisation says it's the medium- and small-sized cars that are the safest.
Railway level crossings
28/03/2008
Railway level crossings dot many of our country roads, and over the last few years they've been responsible for a number of deaths. In some states there are plenty of warnings but in others, like Victoria, there's nothing much to alert the driver. Some experts say all level crossings should have lights and warning bells, but others say most of the fatalities relate to driver error, impatience or misjudgment.
HMAS Sydney update
27/03/2008
The search vessel which located the HMAS Sydney off the WA coast is on its way back to the site. This time its mission is to film the Sydney and that of the German ship which sank her, the Kormoran. Technical problems, coupled with a nearby cyclone, may affect the quality of the footage. The Australian and German ships were discovered earlier this month, 185 kilometres off Shark Bay. They lie 2,500 metres below the surface.
