The entire incident was captured on video, thanks to cameramen from TV station TVNZ.
Pilot Greg Gribble was manoeuvring his chopper delicately near the Viaduct Events Centre to install a metal tower for the inner frame of the Telecom Christmas tree. But then it seems a cable had looped under the helicopter and got clipped by the rotor blades, as TVNZ explains.
Gribble was unhurt, “after being thrown halfway out of the helicopter which also missed several people standing below.”
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will analyse the TVNZ footage of the crash and question eyewitnesses, and added they’ll be looking at whether or not safety procedures were followed during the incident.
The seven-storey-high Telecom Christmas tree was being erected near the Te Wero Island bridge connecting the Viaduct and Wynyard Quarter on the waterfront, Auckland news outlets report.
As for Gribble, his wife said he is “shell shocked” and wasn’t available for interviews. His wife remarked, “He’s very, very lucky, God was on his side there.”
