Crash pilot: I could have been cut to bits

Chopper Pilot Greg Gribble escaped relatively unharmed after the helicopter crash at the Viaduct Basin. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Greg Gribble doesn't blame the man who could have caused the spectacular Viaduct chopper crash and says he will be back flying again in days.

Mr Gribble believes he knows what caused the accident but does not want to speculate while an official investigation is underway.

He walked away from the crash - with only a few scratches and a bump on the head - after almost being thrown out of the helicopter close to rotor blades that would have "cut me to shreds".

Yesterday he told the Herald he felt "alive" and grateful no one else was hurt.

"That's the main thing, that I walked out of it and the guy under the helicopter walked away from it."

He had not spoken to the man, who works for a rigging company, but they had exchanged text messages.

"I think he's a bit shell shocked."

Mr Gribble was not surprised he had not heard from him since the crash near Te Wero Island at Auckland's Viaduct Harbour.

"I don't know if he has anything to say sorry about ... Everyone can speculate on what happened but accidents are accidents ... It's definitely a bugger moment."

He could not remember anything of the crash that has now been broadcast around the world. He has seen it more times than he would like - "it's not a nice thing to look at it".

"It happened so quick [you could] blink and it was finished and it was done. We have a rough idea, pretty good idea, of what happened but I'm not going down that track at this stage."

It happened so quickly "it was like a dream", Mr Gribble said.

"Next thing there was a bang and I had a couple of guys undoing my belt and dragging me out."

He had blacked out. "If you look at the footage when I'm right out of that aircraft the blades are still going around and I would have been cut to bits."

Mr Gribble said his rescuers were brave to rush to help him despite fears the chopper could explode.

His first clear memory was being in the ambulance and looking for his phone so he could call his family.

Mr Gribble and his team were erecting the seven-storey Telecom-sponsored Christmas tree and had practised the exercise carefully.

"It was quite clear what was going to happen. It was probably the simplest lift we had ever done. It was two lifts."

Looking at the wreckage of the $1.2 million machine yesterday, Mr Gribble said he was mentally fine and would get back in a chopper as early as Monday.

But the loss of the machine would be tricky for business until a replacement aircraft was in place.

Civil Aviation Authority investigators have had an initial meeting with Mr Gribble. The CAA said part of its investigation would be to see if the company followed civil aviation rules. Its report will be done within a month.