Helicopter drop left 1m-deep crater
The helicopter that crashed killing three people in Wanaka plummeted 300 metres to the ground, leaving a 1 metre-deep crater on impact.
Multiple investigations are under way into the crash that killed pilot Nick Wallis and Department of Conservation staff members Paul Hondelink and Scott Theobald, shortly after their helicopter took off from Wanaka Airport on Thursday last week.
Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) senior communications adviser Simon Pleasance said investigators had removed the wreckage from the site and taken it to the organisation’s Wellington technical centre where forensic work would continue over several months.
A bulldozer was used to fill the hole left by the helicopter.
‘‘It’s fallen from 1000 feet (300m) to ground level. A lump of metal that big is going to do that,’’ he said.
The bodies were taken from the scene on Friday and would undergo autopsies before being returned to the families.
Two TAIC investigators remained in Wanaka to collect evidence including interviews, maintenance documents, CCTV footage and flight records.
Investigators had not uncovered any obvious cause and it was their role to consider all possible causes, he said.
It could be about two years before the final investigation was released.