A helicopter carrying two people has crashed in Fiordland.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is investigating the cause of a helicopter crash which left a pilot with head injuries after it came down north of Levin this morning.

Relatives of the 257 people killed in the Mt Erebus air disaster returned last night from an emotional memorial service in Antarctica.

His parents were among the 257 people killed in the Mt Erebus disaster, so now Andrew Bond is going to complete their Antarctic trip for them.

Quick-witted rescuers scrawled a line in the beach to point others to the site of a helicopter crash.

In a scene straight out of a desert island castaway story, a line scrawled in the beach pointed rescuers to a helicopter crash in the sea near Whangarei today, helping save a pilot's life.

A 23-year-old man has been taken to hospital after being pulled from the sea after his helicopter crashed off the Northland coast. He was the pilot and only occupant of the chopper and escaped with minor injuries.

An air search has started off the Northland coast after reports an aircraft may have crashed into the sea.

Inside the aircraft, passenger Sonu Jaiswal was live streaming the plane's descent seconds before the crash. Video / Supplied / AP

The pilot at the controls of an Indian jet that crashed this year, killing 158 passengers, had slept for more than half the flight.

Air NZ pilots helped to avert a midair disaster that air traffic controllers failed to spot, an inquiry has found.

A plane that crashed near Fox Glacier, killing nine, is believed to have been over its maximum allowable weight and off-balance.

Qantas will keep its six A380 superjumbos on the ground for at least the next 72 hours, as testing on their Rolls-Royce engines continues after oil leaks were discovered on three aircraft.

Emergency checks found 'anomalies' on three of the fleet's new Rolls-Royce engines, chief executive Alan Joyce said today.

More questions over engines are likely to cause massive delays for Qantas passengers.