E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSA helicopter being used to install a Christmas tree in New Zealand got caught in cables and crashed into the ground Wednesday morning. Amazingly, the pilot escaped with no major injuries and no one on the ground was hurt. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.
Sarah Ivey / AP
Firemen work at the scene of a helicopter accident in Auckland's Viaduct Basin, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011.
A helicopter installing a Christmas tree on Auckland's waterfront on Wednesday morning crashes in dramatic fashion, incredibly the pilot escapes serious injury. See the dramatic video footage below.
AP reports: Footage captured by Television New Zealand Wednesday morning shows the pilot slowly descending from about 25 feet (8 meters) when the chopper's blades appear to get caught in cables attached to scaffolding. The rear of the helicopter snaps and the pilot is tossed about as the helicopter smashes into the ground.
The television station reports that pilot Greg Gribble, who has 20 years experience, says he's "doing fine" after his ordeal.
Leave a Comment:
20 years experience, but why would any rotary craft be so close to scaffolding, cables, hazards without a real need? Fixing a nuclear plant about to go into critical, sure...installing decorations...
I agree with you. I think it was totally unnecessary to have a helicopter do that near the cables. What were they thinking?
They are newzealanders, so brain cells are upside down.
He almost got himself a Darwin Award. Lucky guy, but, what a dork. Now we have something for the next Dumber and Dumber movie.
We'll put America's Super Committee on this investigation! Guarantied no results!
Where's the tree?
Blackhawk down !!!
More like one of Santa's elfs down.
Apparently, it is not so difficult to get a license to pretend to be a helicopter pilot in Auckland, New Zealand . . .
This is not doing a lot of counter the arguments that "Darwin was right", really . . .
Really! :-o
Apparently (no comma necessary) it's not so much that he was not a good pilot. You can clearly see he was able to keep the craft steady and for those that do fly, you'd know better than non-pilots. More accurately the cable swinging near the rotor created a dangerous condition the pilot was obviously unaware of. Futhermore, it was foolish to bring a chopper that close to a cabled structure in the first place. Whoever it was that thought up that masterpiece of a plan is the person that is responsible for this accident. Thank goodness nobody was killed in the process.
poor chopper got chopped ! what a waste of a nice helicopter ,really bad judgement call to risk chopper and pilot over cheap ass christmas lights !,its a no brainer with cranes and cables around
The "Christmas Tree Helicopter Crash" in Auckland, New Zealand demonstrates the same vast lack of common sense and failure to use basic principles of physics that caused the tragic stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair just a few months ago, and there is no excuse for it . . .
http://abcnews.go.com/US/slideshow/indiana-state-fair-stage-collapse-14302448
It is stupidity in the extreme, and in the case of the Auckland, New Zealand helicopter crash, it could just as easily have resulted in significant injuries and deaths among the crowd and work crews, depending on the way the helicopter was ripped apart; the way helicopter parts were propelled into the area; and the way the virtual maze of cables were attached to other structures . . .
And even if this had been an emergency mission to do nearly anything, it nevertheless was stupid, since (a) it resulted in a crash that easily could and should have been avoided and (b) there were no "do overs" or "undos" . . .
This is no different than a life flight medical helicopter crashing in a thunderstorm, which while tragic nevertheless is patently stupid, because it not only results (a) in the death of the patient but also results (b) in the deaths of the crew, medical doctors, and nurses, as well as the destruction of the helicopter and onboard medical equipment . . .
If it were a sudden thunderstorm, wind burst, or something which no reasonable person could have anticipated or expected with any certainty, then it is unfortunate but not necessarily stupid . . .
Using space shuttles as examples, the crash of "Challenger" was stupid, since it could have been prevented simply by following standard launch procedures, which included not launching in cold weather below a clearly stated lowest allowable temperature, but the crash of "Columbia" was more unfortunate than stupid, although there were plenty of advance warnings, all of which for the most part were ignored . . .
Stuff happens, and sometimes there is not a lot that can be done to prevent it, but when a scenario meets or exceeds all the criteria for an accident being inevitable, then allowing the scenario to occur by definition is stupid, really . . .
Really! :-o
P. S. Stated another way, the Auckland, New Zealand "Christmas Tree Helicopter Crash" makes Greg Gribble the poster boy for "Pilot Error" . . .
Choppa pilot wrote:
Wrong. As pilot, I'm THE commander of my aircraft and I'm responsible for everything that happens or fails to happen in it. I'm responsible for assessing the situation in which I'm working. If that means flying a recon around the worksite before I set the (tree, pole, tower, A/C, whatever) and identify cables or other hazards, so be it. If the customer isn't willing to pay for that extra 15 minutes of flight time or the time it takes me to do a ground-based survey of the area, he can find someone else to do the job.
Thank you.
This from the other side, clearly you can see it's not the pilots fault !!! but possibly the person pulling the cable from under!
Pilot: "Goddammit, who put those big long things on here?"
20 years experience what an idoit!
LOL!! Someone must have thought all the hours logged in playing Grand Theft Auto made him a certified pilot! XDD
With 15 years experience I have done many things in life and death rescue but flying in such close proximity to cables and scaffolding with a Christmas tree is not considered life or death work. Someone made some bad decisions.
Yep. The pilot.
Are you kidding me? The keep out zone around a helicopter is more than five times the it's length.
In New Zealand?
I bet the Aussies will never, ever let them forget this calamity.
The new Heliflopper!
What was the pilot high on? What he was doing was completely ridiculous.
Installing a christmas tree? I think the pilot also forgot the tree not to mention a lack of flying skills. Hey dude.. you should stick to flying model helicopter kits from now on.
Merry Christmas!
That was stupidity at its finest............
It's now an awful expensive Christmas tree. Helo's are not cheap. It's also incredible that no one was killed on the ground. This was very similar how actor Vic Morrow was killed on a movie set.
Couldn't you just use a crane?
Oh that would be so boring.
A crane? Too rational... :) Care to take a guess at what he will ask Santa for this year? lmao!
they must not have been able to afford a crane.
Yeah, helicopter rentals are a lot cheaper ....................
Cranes are not that expensive to rent. My family is middle class, but we paid a crane operator to come out to get a 5 ton boat dock out of a tree after a tornado blew through.
Kiwi's have a reputation for thinking they are smarter than they really are. Now lets see who made the dumb decision to use a chopper.
This raises many questions about their federal aviation association. How was this insane activity allowed by their FAA?
What does that say about their airline carriers?
The FAA would not be responsible to approve anything like this. You think the FAA or another countries equivalent would have the time or resources to approve every activity in the air? And what does this have anything to do with airline carriers? This was a guy who made a bad choice in a helicopter with no passengers, not a 777 with 350 people on board...gimmie a break.
fakiwi m8
"installing Christmas tree", with a HELICOPTER in the middle of downtown
How idiotic is that!!!
New Zealanders got the idot bug from the British no doubt.
That would be the same place we got our "idiot bug" from.
The Flight cost of such a stupid adventure would make your months pay seem very small. Now the $$$ millions that the Helicopter cost probably is insured by LLoyds of London. This dumbest of moves have ruined another christmas and why? How could a Christmas tree be that important. If it was that big a tree wouldn't a simple crane be much cheaper and safer and smarter. The unbievable expenditure of money continues unabated world over.
Check the clown out in the background, he is just calmly standing there the whole time. i am sure he needs to finish his cigarette!
How you can deduce that he is "calmly"...
& whatever "the whole time" describes....
It is clear that the EMW's are clearing the hoses & appear as "calm" as any spectator
which makes me ask you...
were you expecting the guy to be doin a pee-pee dance in a still photo
for a scene that is at minimum an hour old & being mopped-up..?
Too much TV maybe ?
I was talking about the Youtube video you turnip!
No kidding! Everyone on the scene should be clambering haphazardly over a just-wrecked vehicle with no direction! They should be jostling it as much as they can to shake the pilot out!
I'll never complain about spending $40 for a Christmas tree again.
Wow, lots of Kiwi hating going on here. New Zealand is a wonderful country with very friendly, generous people.
Humans from every corner of the globe make poor decisions.
Relax BlueMist, when it comes down to it Americans and New Zealanders will die together side by side on the battlefield.
But,
C'mon man!
Say what they want everyone knows Americans do the most stupid things, only have to watch their TV to know this.
lol lets waste a million dollar helicopter installing cheap ass christmas lights !too bad the cristmas tree didn't catch on fire,that would have been a nice "lightshow"
Brain fart big time!