Investigators were today to begin a meticulous examination of the wreckage of a helicopter that plunged into the sea off Northland killing two men as they tried to save people fleeing from a scrub fire.
Helicopter pilot John "Prickles" de Ridder and Conservation Department worker William Macrae were originally helping to fight the fire on Karikari Peninsula but were then called to search for people when the helicopter crashed into the ocean about 9.30pm last Wednesday, just over two hours after the Fire Service was first called to the blaze.
The men's bodies were found midday Thursday and recovered that evening.
On Saturday the wreckage of the Squirrel helicopter ZK-IMB was raised by crane on board a barge in half-metre swells and about 18 knots of wind. Civil Aviation Authority safety investigator Paul Breuilly said the entire aircraft was retrieved in an operation that took about an hour.
Initially the barge was expected to take its load to Paihia but rough seas forced the barge into the Kerikeri River. It berthed at the Stone Store wharf yesterday.
The wreckage was lifted on to a truck by crane and taken to Auckland Airport where CAA accident investigators will begin their inspection.
Video footage taken by a dive of the helicopter while it was still underwater will be used as part of the authority's investigation into what caused the helicopter to crash into the sea.
Experienced rescue helicopter pilot John Funnell, director of Taupo-based company Helicopter Services BOP Ltd, said the accident could have been due to a mechanical fault, or the conditions at the time.
The combination of darkness, smoke and cloud would have been like being in a bottle of milk, but not knowing exactly where, he said.
"It's like being in a bottle of milk. You know you're there but you don't know which way you're facing, if you're upside-down or on a lean," he said.
Rain yesterday came as a welcome relief for the small team of firefighters still working on hotspots at the fireground.
At least 50 firefighters were on site when a massive fire raged across almost 130ha on Wednesday night, gutting two homes and forcing five people to flee into the ocean.
All that remained yesterday was a team of four.
The crew members were pulled out of the site about midday yesterday after heavy rain made it difficult for them to continue working.
Incident Controller Bryan Jensen said a three-strong tanker team remained at the scene.
"We're really pleased to see the rain. There are numerous hotspots over the fireground and this will help to put them out," he said.
He expected the crew would be there another week and on Wednesday a thermal imaging camera would be used to establish if or where any hot spots were still burning.
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