Chopper crash at Viaduct Basin.

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mrfxit, Nov 25, 8:28am
"helicopter pilots with literally thousands of error-free hours flying"
In part because an error is all too often the ONLY error.

Damn lucky bugger & probably only because of being close to the ground in the 1st place.
guider1, Nov 25, 8:32am
Yep. had he still been 7 storeys up (the height of the xmas tree) it would've probably been a complete catastrophe.
That's one damn expensive xmas tree now!
rob_man, Nov 25, 8:32am
If he hadn't been close to the ground it wouldn't have happened, the cause seems to have been an organic terrestrial organism.
richard198, Nov 25, 8:33am
I don't think it's because he was too close to the ground.
Quite the opposite.
The ground crew had to jump up to try to unhook the cable.
If they had a longer cable for the job, there would have been more slack in the cable; enabling him to hover lower and the ground crew could have unhooked withouta) having to jump up, and b) having to pull on the cable.
lordv81, Nov 25, 8:42am
I would say rescue/emergency helicopters alone prove you wrong,then there is all the copters used in search and rescue etc.
guider1, Nov 25, 8:42am
richard. I dont know exactly what they were doing or at what stage they were at at that time but the hook has a release inside the cockpit (used mainly for emergencies but used also for release at any time), so if he was going to release it I would've thought he would've done so before landing if he considered it to be dangerous.
guider1, Nov 25, 8:46am
To me personally, after watching all the footage in slow motion. it looks like the cable was pulled-on or flicked into the rotor by mistake.
guider1, Nov 25, 8:47am
I would imagine we'll see that footage on "Destroyed in Seconds" at a later stage.
ontwowheels, Nov 25, 9:23am
no water check during preflight/ walk around. I thought that would be standard practice for any A/C. certainly is in the commercial world, but I do not know a lot about the GA world.
elect70, Nov 25, 11:43am
Mate flys in 1as security for Chevron oill in PNGflys along the pipelineto ensure natives arent trying to blow it up .get pot shots taken at them occasionallybut@ US$ 150G a year & free trip home every 6 monthsputs up with it ,
pauldw, Nov 25, 11:52am
Asked about that on radio yesterday pilot denied that, said he had another theory but would talk to CAA before saying anything.
richard198, Nov 25, 11:59am
I can see quite clearly that as the guy jumps up and pulls on the cable, the slack is taken up on the left of shot (cable coming down from top of mast) and is pulled into the blades. It's a miracle the chopper didn't land on top of him!
gunhand, Nov 25, 6:08pm
Wow, with an answer like that I can see why you said what you said. NOT.
So, untill you say why Westpac or these St John helcopters (or any other rescue chopper in NZ) you speak of are so dangerous and dont saves compard to being transported to hospital by horseback you are still an IDIOT.
If you show a statistc that says (for exampe) 9 out of 10 patients die as a direct result of helecopter transport as apposed to horseback transport I shall happly put the mystery object you speak of in my hand to my head. Not sure what will happen then though.
And when was the last time one had an accident in NZ!
asa50, Nov 25, 6:46pm
He must be including Apache gunships in the equation which would balance things a bit.
Helicopters are brilliant things and I would have one in my toy shed tomorrow if I had the coin
snoopy221, Nov 25, 7:08pm
Sheesh.what can one say!
Cables are the enemy.
[Like the web to the fly]
But one damn lucky fly boy.
And yeah apart from dope growers years ago.
well New Zealand DOES have some of the worlds BEST helicopter pilots.
Just try and sit a bucket of water on a fence post waaaaaaayyyyyyy down below ya sometime.
Get real good and we'll cal ya Mr Beck-LOL
mrfxit, Nov 25, 7:32pm
LOL yep Snoopy, that'll be the top fella in Taranaki for sure.
I was living down there when he built his place & I see recently that he's still there.
snoopy221, Nov 25, 7:38pm
The house on the hill! or the heli house!-both still there.
hop in to the **cefiro** thread.there is an auction that might give ya a larf or 3.lol
guider1, Nov 25, 8:23am
First off I have to say that la-de-da dude is somewhat correct, but his ignorance is astounding to say the very least!
The reason NZ seems to have so many helicopter accidents is because NZ has so many helicopters per head of population. & it was worse in the early days of deer recovery!
Greg Gribble is my old boss & i've loaded that particular helicopter many times while spraying or fertilising, lifting or whatever else was required.
I spoke with Gregs son (Jaz) shortly after the accident and Greg has his own take on the event (which a couple of you have also mentioned) but no doubt CAA will get to the bottom of it.
I have stood under that helicopter while hovering inches from my head while hooking a load up many times & not once did I feel in danger as I know how capable Greg is. Like any job, there are risks involved & ag work with helicopters is a VERY risky job (you only need to see their insurance premiums to figure that out!).
Greg is one of NZ's most respected helicopter pilots with literally thousands of error-free hours flying to his name & I would doubt you could find any helicopter pilot in NZ that would say otherwise.
Helisika as a company spare no expense in maintaining their helicopters as they do ALL their equipment & one only has to visit their hangar to see what I mean.
All I can say is i'm glad Greg wasnt injured & that everyone within close proximity of the accident were unharmed.
It just goes to show how quick something as awesome as a helicopter hovering (I think they're wicked to watch) can turn to custard.
That's all from me.

*Actually I have to edit that. he has had 1 other incident years ago in a Hughes 500, but that was sabotage by the northland drug growers who didnt like a helicopter flying around at that particular time of the year. They put water in the fuel tank & he crashed on takeoff, but again, luckily he was close to the ground & uninjured.