Before the R22 bashing gets too much traction, the accident appears to have occurred at night yet we are accepting an 'eye witness' who claims
"A witness had been watching the helicopter as it flew through the Cardrona Valley, looked away, heard a bang, looked back and essentially saw the helicopter falling from the sky without the rotors moving," said Wanaka Police SAR co-ordinator Sergeant Aaron Nicholson.
"Weather conditions were great. It was a fairly calm, clear night so it would appear that, obviously it's not for me to say, but it (weather) doesn't seem to be a factor in what happened," said Nicholson.
TVNZ