The deaths of two men in a helicopter crash in Mount Aspiring National Park have been described as devastating and \u2018\u2018a heartbreaking shock\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
Pilot Tim Brown and guide Sean Roach died in a crash in the upper Te Naihi River, South Westland, at 9.39am on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Alpine Group Limited confirmed the deaths in a statement, saying the company was \u2018\u2018devastated\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Both were highly experienced and valued members of a close-knit team.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with their families and loved ones during this difficult time,\u2019\u2019 the company \u2014 owned by the Wallis family \u2014 said.<\/p>\n
Two Wallis brothers, Matt and Nick, were killed in separate helicopter crashes in 2018.<\/p>\n
Mr Brown and Mr Roach had been conducting a guided hunting operation in clear and calm conditions, the Alpine Group statement said.<\/p>\n
The statement said Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) and the Civil Aviation Authority were investigating the crash.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We have confidence in those investigations and will co-operate fully to determine exactly what happened.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Apart from being an experienced guide, Mr Roach also worked as a golf professional and was a former captain of the Otago men\u2019s amateur golf team.<\/p>\n
A Givealittle page has been set up to raise funds for Mr Brown\u2019s wife and daughter.<\/p>\n
The page described his death as \u2018\u2018a heartbreaking shock\u2019\u2019 and said he would leave \u2018\u2018an immense void\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
He was \u2018\u2018widely known and deeply respected\u2019\u2019 in the aviation industry.<\/p>\n
His passion within it was particularly notable in the agricultural and farming sectors.<\/p>\n
In recent times, Mr Brown had invested significantly in a new business venture, which created more uncertainty for his family, the Givealittle page said.<\/p>\n
TAIC senior communications adviser Simon Pleasants said the crash was reported to have happened halfway between Mt Aspiring and Mt Victor, about 24km west of Makarora.<\/p>\n
Three investigators were \u2018\u2018on the ground\u2019\u2019 gathering evidence.<\/p>\n
Two were on the mountain at the accident site examining the wreckage.<\/p>\n
One would be in Queenstown and W\u0101naka conducting interviews and gathering documentary and electronic evidence.<\/p>\n
They would be deployed at least until tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018As soon as practicable, we will remove the wreckage from the accident site and transport it to the commission\u2019s technical facility in Wellington.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Mr Pleasants said the first evidence TAIC staff were looking to gather was what could disappear or change in the environment.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We need to make sure we gain good knowledge about what is lying here early on.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018This applies to human factors, too \u2014 memories of people who were on board.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
At the weekend, Detective Sergeant Sarah Waugh, of the Cromwell CIB, said three others from the hunting group were located on the ground and taken to safety.<\/p>\n
Police extended condolences to Mr Brown\u2019s and Mr Roach\u2019s loved ones, \u2018\u2018who we are providing support\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
Their deaths had been referred to the coroner, she said.<\/p>\n
– Staff Reporters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deaths of two men in a helicopter crash in Mount Aspiring National Park have been described as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-433902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433902","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=433902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}