Brother of pilot says ‘it could have been any of us’
The brother of two men killed in separate helicopter crashes says noone can become immune to losing someone so tragically.
Department of Conservation (DOC) biodiversity ranger Scott Theobald, 59, fellow DOC senior ranger Paul Hondelink, 63, and pilot Nick Wallis, 38, were killed when the helicopter they were in crashed near Wanaka Airport on Thursday.
Otago Lakes area commander Inspector Olaf Jensen said the men’s bodies were recovered from the crash site following a blessing with family and friends.
Jonathan Wallis said it could have been any member of their family in the helicopter.
‘‘He was one of four brothers, from an aviation family . . . It doesn’t make that any easier that he died doing what he loved, at all.’’
Another of the brothers, Matthew Wallis, was also killed in a helicopter crash this year after leaving Wanaka Airport. The 39-year-old died when his Robinson 44 helicopter crashed into Lake Wanaka on July 21.
His body was retrieved two days later.
Jonathan Wallis said losing two brothers in just three months was ‘‘a cruel reality".
‘‘You don’t become immune to this, no-one does.’’
Aviation was a way of life for their family. ‘‘Unfortunately, it can be very unforgiving.’’
The family was taking the grieving process ‘‘as it comes’’. The focus was on getting Nick back to his wife, Carrie, and their children, he said. Toby Wallis said: ‘‘Nick was a great little brother’’. DOC director general Lou Sanson knew all three men personally and said what happened was ‘‘incomprehensible’’. The deaths of the three spelled the loss of 47 years of conservation knowledge.
Sanson said Hondelink had worked on pest control projects including developing 1080 gels, and invented the ‘‘Judas goat’’ for conservation.
Theobald was the pioneer of conservation dogs – the first in the world, Sanson said.
‘‘Everywhere Scott went, the Kiwi numbers went up . . . In that helicopter are resources we will never ever replace.’’
Transport Accident Investigation Commission investigator Barry Stephenson said the inquiry could take 18 months to two years.
The men’s bodies were found near the helicopter, with wreckage spread over about 1 kilometre and only the rotor blades still intact, he said.
The Hughes 500 helicopter had been leased by Wallis and the trio were on their way to the Haast area on the West Coast to begin a controversial tahr cull. Basham said there was nothing to suggest that foul play by people opposed to the cull had caused the crash.
He would not comment on whether a mayday call had been made.
Sanson said Theobald, from Twizel, was ‘‘born to bring back our birds’’.
Theobald looked after Himalayan tahr in Mount Cook National Park, and undertook wallaby and rabbit control measures in the area.
He also trained and bred dogs with the purpose of using them to ward off pests in the bush. His breeding and training skills were sought after overseas and he sent dogs to Japan, Australia, and the Falklands.
Hondelink had recently moved to Twizel from Wanaka and specialised in biodiversity.
The tahr control operation had been put on hold.
The Wallis brothers are the sons of aviation pioneer and Warbirds Over Wanaka air show founder Sir Tim Wallis.