TAIC Report: Air NZ Engine Fire Caused by Blade Crack Missed in Overhaul, Evacuation Took Too Long The photograph above, supplied with the original source article, shows Air New Zealand Link ATR 72-500 aircraft ZK-MCU at Auckland. It is included as an aircraft image and is not the ATR72 involved in the Wellington incident. A Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report has found that an Air New Zealand ATR72 engine fire near Wellington in September 2024 was caused by a fatigue crack in a turbine blade that was missed during an overhaul carried out by the engine manufacturer less than four flying hours earlier. The aircraft landed safely, and no one was killed. However, the subsequent evacuation took two minutes and 51 seconds, almost twice the 90-second certification benchmark. TAIC said the incident highlighted two separate safety issues: the need for stronger quality assurance during engine overhauls and the importance ...