Fatal helicopter crash blamed on incorrectly assembled rotor

A fatal helicopter crash near Murchison last August was caused by an incorrectly assembled tail rotor drive shaft, a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) investigation has concluded.

Philip Heney, 52, a father of nine, was killed when his privately owned two-seater Robinson R22 helicopter ZK-HVN crashed just 100m from his Shenandoah home, 23km southwest of Murchison last August 25.

A passenger in the helicopter, Hamish Teddy, of Wakefield, near Nelson, survived the crash with serious leg injuries.

In a CAA report released today investigators found the crash was caused by the failure of a tail rotor drive shaft that had been incorrectly assembled.

"One or more of the unsupervised and unlicensed maintenance personnel had incorrectly bolted the aft flange of the tail rotor drive shaft directly to the input yoke of the tail rotor gearbox which resulted in failure of the tail rotor drive shaft," the report said.

"The risk taking behaviour exhibited during the maintenance of ZK-HVN allowed a critical defect to be built in to the helicopter's tail rotor drive system and then allowed it to remain undetected."

Compliance with civil aviation rules and an associated advisory circular would have prevented the accident, the CAA inspector found.

Two Nelson men, aged 55 and 58, have been charged with manslaughter over the crash and are due to appear in Nelson District Court on Thursday.

- NZPA