Pilot survives Bay of Plenty helicopter crash, passenger dies
16.05.2004 5.50pm
UPDATE - Police say it is miraculous the pilot of a helicopter survived a crash which killed his passenger near Te Puke this morning.
The Hughes 300 helicopter crashed just before 7am today. A 47-year-old cameraman, Peter John Harris from Tauranga, was killed, but a passing motorist and a local farmer combined to save the pilot, a 35-year-old local man, from the wreckage.
He is in Tauranga Hospital in a serious but stable condition.
"Given the fact the aircraft was totally destroyed it was incredible anyone survived," Inspector Karl Wright St Clair of the Western Bay police said in a statement.
The helicopter crashed into a paddock near the Rangiuru saleyards. The motorist reported seeing smoke coming from the helicopter while it was in mid-flight, and that it burst into flames shortly before crashing, Mr Wright St Clair said.
"The witness raced to the scene and found the helicopter on fire in the paddock. It was extensively damaged. The motorist found the pilot a short distance from the scene where he had been thrown from the wreckage on impact."
The motorist and a farmer from the neighbouring property dragged the pilot to safety away from the crash scene.
The Civil Aviation Authority is investigating the crash.
Source