Military bosses were told "it is important the RNZAF does not cover up" its illegal shipment of pyrotechnic canisters which endangered hundreds of lives.

Safety systems across the entire air force are in for an overhaul after an independent review into the Anzac Day crash found greater change was needed.

The 78 recommendations made after an inquiry into the Anzac Day Iroquois crash are not enough to prevent another tragedy, an independent review says.

The Defence Ministry is about to begin seeking tenders for new training aircraft for the Air Force.

Three airmen killed in an Anzac Day helicopter crash were on a one-hour flight because it was considered too expensive to accommodate them in a hotel.

The air force breached aviation standards by placing dangerous chemical canisters on an Air NZ passenger flight - and then told no one about it, says the CAA.

The RNZAF will not be prosecuted by the CAA after it put the lives of hundreds of people at risk by illegally shipping chemical oxygen generators on a passenger flight.

Inquiries to examine safety changes made after fatal incident as well as state failures to investigate accident.

The air force has shipped dangerous goods on civilian flights at least eight times - including one "seriously endangering" the lives of all on an Air NZ flight to Canada.

The Air New Zealand plane seriously endangered by bad air force safety practices was a Boeing jetliner which carries up to 379 passengers and crew, it emerged last night.

A report says an illegal error by the Air Force seriously endangered the lives of all on board an Air New Zealand international flight.

Internal probe tears apart rule-breaking and risk-taking culture of service.

The department in charge of workplace safety did not investigate the Anzac Day air force crash because it misunderstood the law it enforces, a government legal review has found.

It has taken 29 months - but the full report into the fatal Anzac Day crash is about to be made widely available to the public.