GREG GRIBBLE: Has been involved in a helicopter crash at the Auckland Viaduct.
The pilot of a helicopter which crashed in central Auckland while installing the Telecom Christmas tree has miraculously escaped without serious injuries.
Pilot Greg Gribble, of Auckland firm Helisika Helicopters, assured his son he was OK on the way to hospital.
The crew and pilot are OK, Telecom said. A St John ambulance spokesman said it was taking one person to Auckland City Hospital with minor to moderate injuries.
Telecom wrote on Twitter: "Can confirm the helicopter that crashed was putting up our Xmas tree. We're really happy to confirm pilot and ground crew all OK."
The accident around 10.30am was seen live on the TVNZ website as it was streaming the event.
The seven-storey-high tree was being put up near the Te Wero Island bridge connecting the Viaduct and Wynyard Quarter on the waterfront.
Fire communciations spokesman Tony McDonald said the pilot was the only person in the aircraft during the accident.
"All it's basically done to him is spun him around like a car crash so he'll still have his wits about him."
McDonald said they were bombarded with 111 calls as a result of the accident occuring in such a populated area.
Five trucks and two specialist fire engines were at the scene including one equipped to deal with any fuel leaks though it did not appear the fuel had leaked at this stage.
Civil Aviation had been informed, he said.
The helicopter appeared to be hovering just above the ground when the accident happened.
Witness Steve Hall said the helicopter appeared to be trying to lift a tower near the drawbridge.
It then hovered below the tip of the tower where the blades clipped the connecting wire, threw the wire into the air and sent the helicopter into a spin before it crashed into the ground, with the cockpit pointing up into the air.
Hall and several others, including Grant Cantlay were watching from a boat moored in the viaduct and said they remarked that the blades were getting close to the wire before they struck.
They had seen one person get out of the crashed helicopter on to Te Wero Island in the viaduct, near where a number of superyachts are moored.
The helicopter remains tangled in a tower.
Fire, ambulance and police are at the scene.
The Telecom Christmas tree has been an Auckland institution. Once erected, it was expected that more than 100,000 people would visit. It was scheduled to open on December 2.Watch Raw Video
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