A group of teen girls who allegedly caused mayhem at an Auckland cafe before crashing a stolen car in a police pursuit will be spoken to before charges are laid.

The pilot of a helicopter which crashed in a remote valley near Turangi had been flying for only a couple of years but was "not green", his brother says.

Police say two women involved in a fatal crash on a farm north of Wanganui were not wearing seatbelts.

The second of four teenage girls injured in a crash during a high-speed police pursuit in Auckland has been discharged from hospital.

About 200 families from around the world have written to PM John Key demanding better control, monitoring and regulation of the tourism industry.

Frustrated commuters are calling for a change in retail working hours after a motorway crash caused gridlock across Auckland.

Two companies have been fined almost $30,000 after an 18-year-old industrial window cleaner fell 15 metres, suffering serious injuries.

Inner-city Auckland traffic was brought to a virtual standstill after a motorway crash - gridlock that the Automobile Association described as the worst it had seen.

In their final moments, two teenage sisters sat together in the back of a speeding car on their way to a family cemetery - one pleading with the driver to slow down.

"Alcohol-fuelled madness" on a Tauranga road led to the deaths of two young teens on Christmas Day 2011, a court has been told.

The family of a young wheelchair-bound woman who was struck by a train in Auckland last week have praised those who put themselves in danger to save her life.

Two of four teenage girls involved in a crash during a police pursuit late on Sunday remain in a critical condition in Auckland City Hospital.

The lead pilot of the air force's fatal Anzac Day formation is being made a scapegoat for failures right up the command chain, says the father of one of the men who died in the 2010 crash.

Adam Strange's closest friends and family said goodbye with a bang at sunset last night, echoing a cheeky joke of long ago.

The wife of a man who fell 14m to his death on an adventure course has spoken about her frantic rush to get to him - and the devastating moment she was told he was dead.

A wife watched in horror her husband fell 14 metres to his death from a high-ropes adventure course near Auckland yesterday.

Screams of "I can't feel my legs ... I'm going to die" were heard by a witness shortly after a crash in Kohimarama involving four teen girls who fled a police stop.

Rescue helicopters were kept busy over the weekend with five people in four separate incidents being helicoptered to hospital.

The flight training industry stands on the threshhold, says Lyn Neeson: either tighten regulations now or lose more of the country's finest young pilots.

Captain Ravendra Pal Singh, convicted of assaulting two student pilots in a cockpit 1500ft above the ground, compares himself to Jesus Christ.

Rail workers were yesterday fixing crossings after a wheelchair-bound woman was nearly killed after a wheel on her chair became jammed.

Two naked fishermen had to make a desperate swim to Matakana Island after their kayak sank in Tauranga Harbour.

More than 120 young people were caught driving illegally during a week-long police campaign targeting high schools.

A man is dead and three people - including two children - are in hospital in a stable condition following a bus crash in Manurewa yesterday.

One person has been killed and three people injured in a bus crash in Auckland this afternoon.