Helicopter clipped fence wire

Coroner Chris Davenport found Robb died after his helicopter hit electric fence feeder wires on the farm he was spraying.

A helicopter pilot who died while doing thistle spraying might still be alive today if unused electric fence feeder wires had been removed.

Peter William Robb died when the helicopter he was piloting crashed in Brunswick, near Whanganui, on October 28, 2014.

He was doing aerial spraying at the time for the Takiri Family Trust, run by Nicola Rosemae Gower-james, Mark Gower-james, Knud Michael Bukholt and John Gower-james.

The trust and its trustees were charged by the Civil Aviation Authority with failing to take practicable steps to ensure Robb was not harmed.

But the charges were dropped in April 2016 when the authority reached a confidential settlement with the trust and trustees.

The trustees admitted to breaking the law and promised to lend their support to any awareness campaigns around removing unused wires.

In a coronial finding released on Monday, Coroner Chris Davenport found Robb died after his helicopter hit electric fence feeder wires on the farm he was spraying.

Mark Gower-james was the manager of the farm Robb sprayed that day, and told the coroner he was looking to have about 100 hectares sprayed for thistle.

The area was covered in heavy fog. Robb delayed flying to the farm as a result, but had to land away from the landing zone because fog was still heavy at 8am.

Once at the site, Robb and Mark Gower-james went for a flight to point out the property boundaries, the areas to be sprayed and any hazards. Mark Gower-james said he pointed out power lines.

Robb landed, filled up with spray chemicals, then took off and started spraying.

Mark Gower-james said he heard a bang as he was getting in his truck, and turned to see the helicopter climbing steeply and out of control. It then dropped from the sky, landing on Koatanui Rd.

Another witness, Malcolm Young, also heard the bang and saw the tail detach from the helicopter.

Civil Aviation Authority senior investigator Colin Grounsell was put in charge of finding out how the crash happened.

He said the helicopter struck two disused electric fence feeder wires, which were strung from a derelict building to the top of a small hill.

While hazards were pointed out on the reconnaissance flight, Grounsell said Mark Gower-james did not specifically point out the feeder wires.

There was also no hazard map made, despite it being Robb’s first time spraying the paddock, and a Tracmap spraying system was not installed in the helicopter, Grounsell said.

Tracmap and similar systems can be used by pilots to mark where hazards are.

Grounsell said removing the wires, which had not been used for some time, would have eliminated the hazard.