‘Bang’ as chopper hit the ground
With cloud above and below his chopper, pilot Murray Sarginson asked his passenger to keep an eye on tussock as he hovered close to a steep hillside.
Shortly afterwards there was a bang as they hit the ground.
Sarginson, of Southland, is on trial in Queenstown on five charges related to reckless flying over the crash April 30, 2016, that killed the passenger, Liam Edwards, 32. The Civil Aviation Authority claims he flew his overloaded Robinson R22 in poor visibility when he crashed near the Lindis Pass while the pair were flying from Athol, in Southland, to Mt Algidus Station in Canterbury.
Sarginson had chest and head injuries. Edwards, who became a father five weeks earlier, was found dead at the scene.
Giving evidence yesterday, Edwards’ wife, Jaimee Edwards, said her husband and Sarginson were business partners and ‘‘the best of buddies’’. She talked to Sarginson about the crash while he was in hospital but struggled to remember the details as it was an emotional time. She said Sarginson told her he could see there was cloud below and above just before the crash. ‘‘He thought he would ride it out – hover there until the fog cleared away. He asked Liam to keep an eye on the tussock . . . they used it to see how far away or close they were to the hill.’’ Sarginson told her there was a bang. ‘‘He was still in his seatbelt. . . .When he got his seatbelt off he fell to the ground beside Liam. He found a phone and rang.’’ Sarginson told her Edwards was trying to ‘‘bum shuffle’’ down the hill. ‘Mo [Sarginson] was trying to hold him to stop him. They made it a wee way from the wreckage."’
Under cross-examination and talking about her husband’s impulsiveness, she said it felt like he just wanted to get home quickly.
Cromwell man Raymond Casey was first to spot the crashed helicopter. He was a passenger in the chopper of Ben Sarginson, Murray Sarginson’s nephew and co-owner of the crashed helicopter. ‘‘The cloud and all the fog were just moving in and out really fast. Every minute it was different,’’ Casey said.
He found his uncle nearby. ‘‘He was a bit mixed up. He wasn’t sure where Liam had gone and he wanted me to go and find (him).’’ Shortly afterwards, he found Edwards. ‘‘He was lying face down on an outcrop of rocks on the ground.’’
He spent 25 minutes performing CPR before a paramedic arrived and declared Edwards dead. A pathologist later determined he died of highenergy impact injuries to his chest and pelvis, causing multiple fractures
Jaimee Edwards said that about 11am on the Saturday, she was feeding stock with baby Alex in the car when she had a call from Sarginson’s wife, Jacqui. ‘They had had a crash landing . . . at that stage everything was all well and he was walking around but that maybe I would have to go to Dunedin Hospital.’’
About 12.30pm a friend called after reading a story on Stuff about a man dying in a helicopter crash.
After reading the news story again about 2pm and learning that Sarginson was taken to Dunedin Hospital, she ‘‘knew’’ it was her husband.
‘‘I didn’t get told officially until the cop came to my door about 6pm.’’
Sarginson has been charged with reckless conduct and failing to comply with his duty, exposing individuals to risk of death or serious injury or serious illness, under health and safety legislation. He is charged under the Civil Aviation Act with operating in a manner that can expose a passenger to unnecessary risk. The trial is expected to last a week. Judge Bernadette Farnan is hearing the case.