Three seriously injured as helicopter goes down
Investigators begin work today to find out why aircraft crashed near Kaweka Range
Three people were in hospital last night after a helicopter on a commercial survey operation crashed near Ngamatea Station between Waiouru and the Kaweka Range, on the Napier-Taihape Rd.
The Hughes MD600N helicopter was carrying five people when it went down about 9am yesterday. Three rescue helicopters airlifted the injured to hospital.
One man in his 40s was last night in a critical condition in Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. Another man in his 40s and a man in his 30s were in serious but stable conditions.
The two others who were in the helicopter had minor injuries but did not need hospital treatment.
Rescue Co-ordination Centre NZ mission co-ordinator Dave Wilson said they received an alert from the helicopter’s distress beacon at 8.50am providing a location at Oturua Stream. Wilson said another helicopter from the same company as the crashed chopper was initially sent to provide a fast, initial response to determine the situation, with the Greenlea Rescue Helicopter from Taupo arriving on scene soon after to provide medical care.
“Distress beacons can summon life-saving help to people who need it and get them to hospital faster. In this particular case, the alert from the distress beacon was the only notification that the aircraft had crashed.”
Greenlea pilot Nat Every said they were the first helicopter on the scene by about 40 minutes: “Our intensive-care paramedic was able to stabilise the seriously injured patients at the scene.”
He said it became quite obvious that they were going to need additional resources and requested assistance from Hawke’s Bay and Palmerston North, who both sent rescue helicopters with paramedics on board. They used axes to “cut a helipad closer to the scene” to allow easier access to the injured.
“Our paramedic remained on scene, as did we because he was the one that knew what was going on. He acted as the on-scene coordinator of the medical side of things and briefed all the incoming paramedics and steered the patients on to them.”
A Helicopters Hawke’s Bay spokesman said the pilot involved in the crash had many years’ experience.
“We have been in communication with the Civil Aviation Authority and Transport Accident Investigation Commission, both of whom will conduct a full investigation into the accident.”
He said they would work closely with them to provide all the information needed.
“At this stage it is inappropriate to comment or speculate on the cause of the accident,” the spokesman said.
TAIC investigators were expected to arrive at the site this morning to conduct their assessments.