"MIDAIR COLLISION" in New Zealand

[aerofoto - HJG Admin]

Sunday February 17th 2008

Two are dead after a mid-air collision in New Zealand.

A light plane and a helicopter collided in the mid-air above Paraparaumu, north of Wellington this morning.

The two were on the crippled helicopter that crashed into a Placemakers building on Kapiti Road, a police spokesman said.

Nobody else inside the building was hurt.

The plane crashed onto Dennis Taylor Court, a cul-de-sac near the Paraparaumu Airport, narrowly missing a house.

The pilot, the sole occupant, was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

The Placemakers building is about 200 metres from the runway at airport.

The collision, at about 11.15am, resulted in two crash scenes attended by six fire engines, police and ambulances.

Witnesses said there was no sign of fire at either crash site.

The helicopter was owned by Helipro, one of the country's largest helicopter operators.

Company spokesperson John Read said it is not yet clear what happened.

"Our sole focus at the moment is looking after our people."

Eyewitness Anne Russell said she was watching the aircraft and thought they were getting too close to each other, Stuff website reports.

"Then the left wing of the plane heading west toward the airport clipped the tail of the helicopter that was heading south - broke the wing off the plane which spun to the ground. The chopper seemed to carry on in a straight line for a brief moment, then plummeted straight down to the ground at high speed.

"The scream of the chopper falling will haunt me for a while."

An 18-year-old surf lifesaver from the Gold Coast who was on holiday in Paraparaumu found himself helping to free the pilot from the plane wreckage.

Ben Magee said he leapt two fences to reach the plane in the cul-de-sac after seeing it collide with a helicopter and spiral to the ground.

He told Radio New Zealand the engine separated from the plane in mid-air but the body and tail of the plane landed upside down in the cul-de-sac.

Mr Magee said the pilot was suspended from seat-belts but he cut him loose with a knife provided by a resident in the street.

"The plane was upside down and there was a young guy in there, probably about 20-23 years. When I first got there he was not moving but I could hear him breathing.

"I asked him what his name was but he was not answering. He was squashed."

Mr Magee said several residents from the street used water hoses to keep leaking fuel away from the plane wreckage until emergency services arrived and retrieved the pilot.

Mark C
AKL/NZ

[aerofoto - HJG Admin]

SAME INCIDENT AS REPORTED ABOVE .... update !

Residents watched in horror as a plane and helicopter both collided.

A mid-air collision between a light plane and helicopter over Paraparaumu, north of Wellington today has claimed three lives.

The collision, at about 11.15am, resulted in two crash scenes -- the helicopter falling through the roof of a timber yard at Placemakers, while the light plane hit the roof of a house about 200m away when it crash landed in Dennis Taylor Court, a cul-de-sac.

Two men in the Helipro helicopter died in the collision.

The pilot of the plane, a Kapiti Aero Club Cessna 152, was flown to Wellington Hospital in a critical condition where he later died from multiple injuries.

Police were yet to release the names of the deceased but Square Trust Rescue Helicopter spokesman John Funnell said one of the men killed in the helicopter was experienced pilot Dave Fielding.

Mr Funnell said Mr Fielding was an extremely valued pilot and base manager.

"Dave had piloted the rescue helicopter for 14 months and was also a highly qualified A-Category flight instructor and flight examiner, approved by the Civil Aviation Authority," he said.

"Dave was a great pilot with a great attitude -- it is a huge loss to the rescue helicopter community and will be missed by us all," Mr Funnell said.

Mr Fielding had a partner and three-month-old daughter, Mr Funnell said.

The other man in the helicopter was believed to be a trainee pilot.

Police said the bodies of the two men from the helicopter were still at the crash scene at Placemakers in Kapiti Road.

The building had been cordoned off to allow air accident and police investigators to conduct a scene examination which could take several days.

Kapiti Mana area commander Inspector John Spence said several houses in Dennis Taylor Court remained evacuated while a scene examination continued.

"The propeller and engine from the light plane have crashed through the roof of a house, demolishing a hallway and sending shards of glass and wall linings through the house.

"The main fuselage has ended upside down outside the house with other bits of wreckage strewn across neighbouring properties," Mr Spence said.

It was extremely fortunate that people on the ground were not hurt, he said.

Police were asking residents not to touch any debris as the wreckage would be exhibits critical to the investigation.

The collision, which occurred over a mixed commercial and residential area, left residents horrified.

Car salesman Cameron Nathanson was standing in a friend's backyard when he heard the two aircraft collide.

"I heard a bang and looked up and the thing was disintegrating, it's hard to describe the noise, it was just haunting," he said.

Mr Nathanson said the scene was like something from the movies.

"We saw wings and debris flying absolutely everywhere.

"I couldn't believe it, we were just standing there with our mouths open, we were speechless."

Eyewitness Anne Russell said she was watching the aircraft and thought they were getting too close to each other, the Stuff website reported.

"Then the left wing of the plane heading west toward the airport clipped the tail of the helicopter that was heading south -- broke the wing off the plane which spun to the ground. The chopper seemed to carry on in a straight line for a brief moment, then plummeted straight down to the ground at high speed.

"The scream of the chopper falling will haunt me for a while."

An 18-year-old surf lifesaver from Australia's Gold Coast who was holidaying in Paraparaumu found himself helping free the pilot from the plane wreckage.

Ben Magee said he leapt two fences to reach the plane in the cul-de-sac after seeing it collide with a helicopter and spiral to the ground.

He told Radio New Zealand the engine separated from the plane in mid-air but the body and tail of the plane landed upside down in the cul-de-sac.

Mr Magee said the pilot was suspended from seat-belts but he cut him loose with a knife provided by a resident in the street.

"The plane was upside down and there was a young guy in there, probably about 20-23yrs. When I first got there he was not moving but I could hear him breathing.

"I asked him what his name was but he was not answering. He was quashed."

Mr Magee said several residents from the street used water hoses to keep leaking fuel away from the plane wreckage until emergency services arrived and retrieved the pilot.

Inspector Spence said the crash happened at a busy time on a sunny Sunday.

"It is a tragedy that the crash happened and that people have died. We are extremely fortunate however that no-one on the ground was injured."

Placemakers was able to account for all staff and customers and there were no reported injuries.

Wellington police communications manager Kaye Calder said she was not aware of anyone in the house at the time the plane stuck.

Emergency services, air accident staff and specialist police disaster victim identification officers were conducting a meticulous scene examination, she said.

Mark C
AKL/NZ

[skyking]

Mark,

Your 1st post says...2002. I guess that's really supposed to be 2008, right?

Sad indeed no matter.

[Tony Madge - HJG]

was it a Robinson R22???

[aerofoto - HJG Admin]

Your 1st post says...2002. I guess that's really supposed to be 2008,

"YES" .... 2008 .... yesterday .... sorry !

I've now changed it

was it a Robinson R22???

Not sure Tony !

Sadly .... we've had a few of these incidents in recent years.

The worst was several years ago when 2 BN ISLANDER's full oft tourists which hit each other in Milford Sound .... a alpine scenic hot-spot for foreign tourists. 1 of the 2 aircraft successfully landed, but, the other fell into the sound .... and sank into water so deep she's never to this day been recovered. The incident wasactually recorded on video by 1 of the PAX aboard the surviving aircraft.

I actually witnessed a major/serious midair collision over the city of Auckland back around November 1994 .... when a Police helicopter ascended right into the patch of an oncomming PIPER CHEROKEE late one Friday afternoon .... with disastrous results for all 7 POB both aircraft.

The helicopter fell on to the motorway beside work and exploded immediately .... whilst the CHEROKEE fell onto another section of the same motorway within 100 yards of where I was working with customers at the time.

The CHEROKEE (reporting on traffic congestion for local radio stations) was flying westward .... toward the sun at the time. The Police helicopter was also reporting on traffic with the same area .... and was unfortunately ascending to a higher level .... and "without clearance to do so" .... and WHAM !!!! .... neither party knew what hit them.

Despite the city congestion at the time both aircraft fell onto relatively clear sections of motorway and between traffic.

Incredibly nobody on the ground was harmed.

Mark C
AKL/NZ