A Wānaka helicopter company is facing two charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act over a crash that claimed three lives.
The three men who died in the helicopter crash near Wānaka Airport (from left) Nick Wallis, Paul Hondelink and Scott Theobold.
Photo: Supplied
An interim report from transport investigators found evidence the chopper crashed in 2018 when a pair of over-trousers flew from a cabin and became caught in a tail rotor.
Pilot Nick Wallis and Department of Conservation workers Paul Hondelink and Scott Theobald all died.
Owners, the Alpine Group, were charged by the Civil Aviation Authority in the Queenstown District Court yesterday, for failing to comply with their duties.
Helicopter company charged over crash that killed three people
10 May, 2021 09:10 PM
2 minutes to read
The Alpine Group Ltd has been charged in relation to a crash on October 18, 2018, which killed pilot Nick Wallis and Department of Conservation employees Paul Hondelink and Scott Theobold. Video / ODT
The Alpine Group Ltd has been charged in relation to a crash on October 18, 2018, which killed pilot Nick Wallis and Department of Conservation employees Paul Hondelink and Scott Theobold. Video / ODT
Otago Daily Times
A Wanaka helicopter company will have to wait until at least October to defend charges over a crash which killed three people in 2018.
The charges were laid by the Civil Aviation Authority in the Queenstown District Court. In an audio visual appearance on Monday lawyers representing the authority and the company sought a date for a three-week judge-alone trial to take place.
Supplied
DOC staff member Paul Hondelink was also killed. Judge John Brandts-Giesen remanded the case until September 30 but said the trial would likely take place later in the year. He excused himself from the trial due to a family connection. The Alpine Group is majority owned by Nick Wallis’ father Tim Wallis and other family members are shareholders.
GEORGE HEARD/STUFF
COMPUTER corporation Fujitsu are involved in one of the worst miscarriages of justice of our times the persecution of innocent subpostmasters, wrongly accused of theft.
This is not the only public scandal that which has involved Fujitsu but thanks to the ongoing enthusiasm for privatisation and their own political lobbying, Fujitsu is still a favourite supplier to the public sector.
This month 39 subpostmasters, who had been found guilty of fraud and theft, had their convictions overturned at the Court of Appeal. They are among more than 500 subpostmasters who were wrongly prosecuted for fraud in the local post offices they ran.
To the congregation of St Owen’s in the village of Bromham, she was known as Reverend Paula and her dedication and kindness down the years endeared her to parishioners.
The 62-year-old softly spoken mother of two worked for good causes (the plight of Latin American street children was particularly close to her heart) and was a trustee of Hymns Ancient & Modern, a charity devoted to ‘the advancement and promotion of religion’.
She also gave talks on the importance of her own Christian beliefs.
She took services most Sundays, either at St Owen’s or at one of two neighbouring churches that make up the small Bedfordshire parish.