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Two Taupo men have walked away uninjured after their helicopter crashed in the Kaimanawa Ranges.
It is understood the pair were watching deer in the area when they crashed.
Taupo businessman Tom Condon was piloting the helicopter when it crashed.
"I just made a dumb mistake. My altitude was too high, and it stalled on me," Mr Condon said.
"When I realised I wasn't going to recover and I saw I had a line of trees coming towards me I had to act fast.
"I let the helicopter stall and fall ... We hit the tree and basically slid down it."
Mr Condon said that if he had tried to fly over the trees his helicopter would have flipped and the two men may not have survived.
The pilot said after the crash his companion was so relieved they had survived that he gave him a big hug.
The two survivors climbed out of the wreckage, grabbed the emergency locator transmitter and walked to a campsite they had just left to wait for rescuers.
The Wellington-based Rescue Co-ordination Centre of New Zealand launched the search after it detected an emergency locator transmitter in the ranges.
The Taupo-based Lion Foundation Rescue Helicopter was sent to look for the two men about 1am on Tuesday and, with the full moon and night vision goggles, was able to track them to a campsite on the Mangamaire Stream.
Rescue pilot Dan Harcourt said the pair were "very lucky" to have walked away from the crash.
Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Bill Sommer said the authority would investigate the accident.
When asked if he would fly again, Mr Condon said he had already flown back to the site to retrieve his wallet.
- ROTOUA DAILY POST
