He has flown helicopters for 35 years and has had one other tail rotor failure in his life.
"I'm a little bit sore, but I'm fine," he said.
"It's not a nice feeling. It was bad. And I think the outcome exceeded my expectations by a long way. The fact that I ended up in the water, unable to get my seatbelt off, got my seatbelt off, couldn't tell up from down until I saw some light and then I was able to head towards the light and then emerged in the cockpit, so I was pretty happy.
"I didn't panic, I almost went into some sort of state that allows you to think logically and consciously. I looked for the seatbelt, found it, released it. I thought my leg was trapped, which was my biggest concern."
He cut the inside of his mouth and damaged his helmet in the crash.
"But I consider myself very lucky. I'm just happy."
Helicopter crash at Pautahanui Inlet near Porirua, RCCNZ coordinating initial response with Police, CAA, TAIC and harbour master
— Maritime New Zealand (Nō te rere moana Aotearoa) (@MaritimeNZ) May 2, 2017
The national rescue centre ran the rescue operation alongside police, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Transport Accident Investigation Commision and the region's harbour master.
Lucas was assessed by a paramedic.
Coffee cart owner Alex Finney said he saw the half-submerged helicopter about 1km off the shore at Browns Bay in Porirua.
He saw a person standing on top of the downed craft.