KEY POINTS:
Crash investigators may return to Lake Wanaka to recover the engine from the Robinson R22 helicopter in which Haast pilot Morgan Saxton died.
The wrecked remains of the engine sit on an underwater shelf 74m beneath the surface.
Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) spokesman Ken Mathews said investigators were negotiating with the Navy underwater team and a commercial dive company to salvage the engine, the Otago Daily Times reported.
"If feasible, then we will definitely recover the engine," he said.
Specialist divers recovered Mr Saxton's body inside the wreckage of the chopper when it was snagged by a remote-controlled vehicle, and brought it to the surface earlier this month.
A "seizure of helicopter wreckage" order has been issued by TAIC, which prevents any items from the wrecked helicopter "such as the engine" from being removed from the lake.
Mr Mathews said the order ensured that any remaining helicopter items would remain in the statutory possession of TAIC investigators and would prevent any "unnecessary intervention".
He declined to specify what would constitute "unnecessary intervention" but said no one was to attempt to remove any item from the helicopter without written authority from the investigators, and any flotsam from the helicopter should be handed into the Wanaka police station.
The investigation by Peter Williams and Ian McClelland is expected to take about seven months.
Police are still investigating whether assault charges will be laid in relation to an alleged group beating of a 27-year-old Wanaka man at Wanaka Airport during the wake at Mr Saxton's funeral.
- NZPA
