Fairfax News:
The man critically injured in last week’s helicopter crash has died at the Flinders Medical Centre. The 46-year-old man from Packenham in Victoria died on Friday morning, after suffering severe head and chest injuries.
Investigations into the accident are continuing, with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau trying to piece together the circumstances that lead to one of the helicopter’s rotor blades hitting high voltage wires and sending the aircraft plummeting.
The helicopter crew had been performing live line inspection work that involves holding an ‘ohm stick’ to the wires while flying in close proximity to cables.
Farm manager Geoff Pfeiffer saw the accident happen and rushed to the site to help.
“One guy was in a daze,” he said. “He had a mobile phone and had called 000 and gave it to me to speak to emergency services.
“I just wish I could have done something more.”
Electranet (which is responsible for all South Australia’s high-voltage transmission wires) executive manager of assets and operations Gavin Brennan said a suspension of helicopter live line work would remain in SA until they had “a clear indication on what the cause of this incident is”.
“There’s been none of these incidents before,” he said.
Mr Brennan said helicopter live line work was a specialist job, and had been performed world-wide for about 15 years.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the crash, and is expected to release an interim report in a month.