’Copter felled by swirling snow?

Press, 30 November 1982, Page 1

’Copter felled by swirling snow?

By

LES BLOXHAM

Clouds of fresh powder snow stirred up by the big rotor blades of an R.N.Z.A.F. Iroquois helicopter probably led to a loss of visibility and its crashing on Mount Cook on Sunday evening. The helicopter was: attempting to settle on to an ice shelf when a .rotor apparently hit the snow, flipping the big machine on tn its back. All seven people on board — four mountaineers and the crew of three — scrambled to safety. The • leader of the group

rescue party; Ken Joyce, who had been dropped with two other climbers on to the shelf a few minutes earlier by Ron Small in his Squirrel helicopter, saw the accident. “The Iroquois was hovering, and trying to find its feet on the ground,” said Mr. Joyce.“lt was throwing up a lot of snow and the next thing there were fragments of Perspex flying through the air and then dead quiet. “We waited for the snow to settle and helped to get those on board to safety.” They , included Jonathon Aitchison, Russell Braddock,

Kim Logan, and Callun Hud- ■ son, all members of the team sent in to help rescue Mark Inglis and Philip Doole. from their ice cave further up the mountain. . The four climbers on board the Iroquois said they noticed a lot of snow blowing around as the helicopter made its first approach. “It all happened very fast,” said Jonathon Aitchison. "There was a bang and suddenly we were hanging upside down by our safety belts. We got out as fast as we could.” While the mountaineers

were equipped to handle the ice, snow, and freezing conditions 10,000 feet above sea level, the Air Force crew certainly were not. The mountaineers immediately dug a small shelter for the crew. They were later picked up by Ron Small’s helicopter. He said conditions were difficult on Sunday evening. "It was easy to lose reference on the final part of the approach,” he said. He emphasised that he. did not want to comment on the cause of the accident.

Yesterday the Iroquois was poised upside down with its tail rotors hanging over a vertical drop of several hundred metres. A Royal New Zealand Air Force Court of Inquiry will begin an investigation today into the crash of the Air Force Iroquois on Mount Cook on Sunday. Squadron Leader Mike Crang, his co-pilot. Flight Lieutenant Brian Phillips, and a crew member, Flight Sergeant Colin Roper, were the crew of the Iroquois.

Squadron Leader Crang has been commander of the helicopter detachment at Wigram since 1979 and in December will become the senior. New Zealand Air Force pilot with the Anzac helicopter contingent in the Sinai Desert. . Flight Sergeant Roper has been in the detachment a year and is due to join the Sinai contingent in February: The Court, which will be held in chambers at Wigram Air Force base in Christchurch, will comprise Wing Commander Darrell Simp-

son, commander ofJJie No. 5 •Squadron in Auckland as president, and three others.. Wing Commander Simpson is a former helicopter pilot. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence in Wellington said that the crashed Iroquois would remain on Mount Cook until the Court had completed its investigation and reported back to the air staff of the Ministry in Wellington. '■ The Court will investigate how the crash occurred, assess the extent of the damage and recommend whether and how the helicopter might be recovered. The Iroquois was from the No. 3 Squadron detachment

based at Wigram. Its crew were flown back to Christchurch yesterday. The helicopter is believed to be intact on the Empress Shelf of Mount Cook. One of the problems in salvaging it is that the air at high altitudes is thin, making a liftoff almost impossible using another Iroquois. The replacement cost of a second-hand Iroquois is thought to be about $1 million and a new one nearly $3 million. It is believed there is no helicopter in New Zealand powerful enough to lift the machine from its perch between a precipice and crevasse on the shelf.