{"id":257636,"date":"2026-01-29T12:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T12:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/257636\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T12:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T12:18:09","slug":"pilot-passenger-killed-in-paekakariki-hill-helicopter-crash-were-pest-control-contractors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/257636\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilot, passenger killed in Paek\u0101k\u0101riki Hill helicopter crash were pest control contractors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img  alt=\"Kapiti-Mana Area Commander Inspector Renee Perkins. Photo \/ Grace Odlum\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Kapiti-Mana Area Commander Inspector Renee Perkins. Photo \/ Grace Odlum<\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cPolice are working to formally confirm the identity of those who were recovered, but are unable to do so at this stage of the investigation,\u201d Inspector Perkins said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cOur thoughts remain with their families and friends at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">A witness, who was first to reach the crash, said he was checking a body for vital signs as the Westpac rescue chopper arrived.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">He said he could not find any sign of life before he made the call to get clear of the aircraft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">The man said the Westpac crew soon spotted another body in thick scrub, on steep terrain some distance from the wreckage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Cordons remain in place around the Battle Hill campground while police examine the scene.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\">Civil Aviation Authority investigators have completed their preliminary scene examination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vwaNpWtPaxhXkxNi\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/585315\/pilot-passenger-killed-in-paekakariki-hill-helicopter-crash-were-pest-control-contractors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/585315\/pilot-passenger-killed-in-paekakariki-hill-helicopter-crash-were-pest-control-contractors\">-RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kapiti-Mana Area Commander Inspector Renee Perkins. Photo \/ Grace Odlum \u201cPolice are working to formally confirm the identity&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[70218,10474,3549,6179,30185,42,47065,31037,78,3375,3180,43,147339,14734,384,19028,19723,40,38,41,39,30184,52,3608,19135],"class_list":["post-257636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-contractors","tag-control","tag-crash","tag-died","tag-gully","tag-headlines","tag-helicopter","tag-hill","tag-in","tag-killed","tag-near","tag-news","tag-paekkriki","tag-passenger","tag-people","tag-pest","tag-pilot","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-transmission","tag-wellington","tag-were","tag-working"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}