Police have arrested a man over an unsolicited email sent to the family of one of three men killed in a mid-air collision over Paraparaumu in 2008.
Flight examiner David Fielding, 30 and student pilot James Taylor, 19, died on February 17, 2008, when their helicopter and a Cessna piloted by Bevan Hookway, 17, collided above the Kapiti Coast town.
An inquest into their deaths was held in October. During the inquest Mr Fielding's family received an unsolicited email purporting to be from aviation expert Professor Frank Sharp, manager of Professional Programmes at Massey University's School of Aviation. Prof Sharp denied any knowledge of it.
The family passed the email on to Coroner Ian Smith who was alerted to the fact it was suspect.
"I had no hesitation in calling the police and am keen to get to the bottom of this," he said in October.
