Police name dead chopper pilot

Police have named the pilot killed in a helicopter crash on Homestead Peak in Mt Aspiring National Park, near Wanaka yesterday.

Police said Keith Andrew MacKenzie, 29, of Ontario, Canada, was a trainee pilot, working in the tourism industry in Wanaka to gain his commercial helicopter rating.

The next-of-kin of Mr MacKenzie's passenger, who also died in the crash, had yet to be advised of his death and his name would be withheld until this was done. He was also believed to be Canadian.

Post mortems on the pair were being carried out in Dunedin this morning.

- NZPA