At about 1 pm on 24 August 2017 I took my lunch onto the deck here at Waikawa Beach and glanced over my shoulder at a helicopter buzzing round in the low-fly training zone nearby. Then I returned my attention to my meal.

Moments later I heard a very loud thump — the kind you hear in a car crash — and then silence where there should have been helicopter rotors. I turned to look and waited a few moments in case it was a heavy landing but nothing happened. No helicopter flew up, no rotors made their distinctive noise. On the other hand there was no debris or smoke that I could see.

How unlucky am I that this was the second helicopter crash I've witnessed in my life? The first was a fatal crash on Mt Victoria, in Wellington. At that time when we turned to look at sudden bang and silence there was debris flying up in the air, so I expected that this time too. The pilot in that crash died.

For at least a year after that every time I heard a helicopter flying overhead I'd feel a bit anxious.

Back to 2017 though. After a few more minutes, seeing nothing, I thought I should dial 111, as perhaps I was the only witness, and the occupants, probably some 750 metres away, could be hurt.

Before long emergency services were on the scene, but meanwhile, with the aid of binoculars, I'd seen two people walking around a helicopter lying on its side.

Helicopter lying on its side in a paddock.

News items at the time: Trainee pilot in helicopter crash near Horowhenua and Two escape helicopter crash near Horowhenua.

Only today, some 6 years later have I come across the the Civil Aviation Authority Safety Investigation Report. I'm uploading it here for my own reference.

CAA Investigation Report ZK-IMZ.pdf

The report said:

The instructor pilot received a laceration to the left side of his scalp, a concussion, and experienced memory loss as a result of the accident. The student pilot received a minor injury to his finger.

Oh, and that first crash I witnessed: it was all the way back in 2001. A helicopter had been working for weeks taking material from a building site on steep property in Palliser Road, Mt Victoria, Wellington. It would fly to the top of the hill, where we lived, dump the material into a truck and then fetch another load.

One day we were walking the dogs and had just turned the corner with our backs to the Lookout at the top of Mt Vic when we heard an awful noise: the helicopter had crashed into the top of the hill. We turned to see debris flying into the air and a heap of tourists running away from the crash. Then some ran towards the helicopter. We read later a visiting doctor tried to help the pilot, who unfortunately died of injuries.