Nick WallisA Wānaka helicopter company has been fined $315,000 for failures leading up to a crash that killed a pilot and two Department of Conservation workers four years ago. Less than a minute after the helicopter took off at 10.53am, several witnesses recalled seeing the helicopter descending near vertically, the report said. Items were seen coming out of the helicopter towards its tail rotor before it began to rotate and descend. The crash occurred less than three months after Nick Wallis' brother and fellow pilot, Matthew, was killed in a helicopter crash in Lake Wanaka. The company, founded in 1954, is majority-owned by aviation entrepreneur Sir Tim Wallis and members of the Wallis family.

Source: Otago Daily Times October 11, 2022 11:51 UTC