Chopper crash pilot examines wreckage

The pilot who walked away from yesterday's waterfront helicopter crash says it's "miraculous'' he is alive.

Greg Gribble today looked over the wreckage of his helicopter at the Ardmore hangar with disbelief, telling media he couldn't remember the accident that led to it tumbling to the ground.

The 56-year-old says he blacked out as he was swung out the front door of the helicopter before falling back inside.

"Everything was going perfectly to plan and then it went pear shaped.

"The first thing I knew the helicopter shook violently, I had about two seconds of that I can recall, the next thing I remember I hear the scream of the turbine behind me and the two guys all over me dragging me out.

"If you look at the footage they were in there pretty quick''

Those men are heroes says Gribble.

"They didn't think for a second. It could have been different. It could have burst in to flames. Thank you. What can you say, the guys are heroes.

"If it had of burst into flames they would be double heroes.''

Gribble was installing the seven-storey-high Telecom Christmas tree in Auckland's Viaduct Basin when the accident happened.

The force of the crash bent the helicopter in half.

"We've had a bad accident, we have walked away from it which is pretty miraculous that nobody including the guy under the helicopter got hurt which is absolutely amazing given what gone on.''

Gribble only injuries were a bump to the head and a cut finger.

Despite feeling shaken, Gribble said he would be happy to finish putting up the Christmas tree.

He said a lot of preparation went into what was meant to be a straight-forward job.

"We were doing a fairly routine lifting job at the end of the day. There was more health and safety and paperwork involved in that one than almost any job we had come across."

Gribble said he could not officially comment on what caused the accident while the Civil Aviation Authority investigation is underway, but believes he knows.

He has watched the footage and says it's useful to try and determine what happened.

''It's pretty out there but it was good for us to isolate what was going on. Something has hit the blades we think. For all we know it could have been a malfunction but I don't think so.''

CAA investigators were due to meet Gribble today.

Gribble said he's been overwhelmed by support following the near-death experience.

"The support from obviously, family and friends has been amazing but also the people who you have worked for years."

"I've literally got hundreds of emails and hundreds of texts wishing me well.''

An Auckland cameraman who filmed the crash and then was among the first to help save Gribble says he did not think twice about running toward the wreckage.

"I just ran in," freelance cameraman Murray Job says.

"I just wanted to make sure, seeing it didn't burst into flame as soon as it hit the ground, I felt I had just to get in there and see if we can get the guy out.

"I didn't even think about it, I ran in as fast as I could thinking that if I could get in and out and get the guy out within 20-30 seconds then he as a great chance of survival if the thing was going to catch on fire."

Job was at the Viaduct with two cameras filming the installation.

His cameras caught the crucial moment when the helicopter's rotor blade struck a cable.

Job says as the helicopter came down onto the Viaduct, he snapped his camera onto its tripod and ran toward the wreck.

He could be seen in his own footage climbing up the left-hand side of the wreckage and reaching across to the empty seat for Gribble.

One of the helicopter ground crew was on the right-hand side helping.

'DAD WILL BE SHOCKED'

Gribble's son Jaz said his dad would be shocked when he watches the crash footage.

Footage broadcast on TV3 caught the moment one of the rotor blades on Greg Gribble's helicopter appeared to strike hanging cables, sending it into a spin before it plummeted into the ground.

Jaz said he didn't think his father realised how bad the crash was.

"I don't think you can really imagine until you see the aircraft, it's pretty unbelievable," he said.

"He was just happy that he was sitting on the couch yesterday."

They had not talked about what caused the crash.

"We haven't really discussed fully what happened, we're just going to see how he was feeling today and we'll no doubt go through the processes and talk with CAA but at the moment I wouldn't want to say what had caused it.

"Obviously a strop or some form of rope has hit the main rotors but other than that it's just a whole lot of mess sitting on a trailer."

Witnesses said they saw the blades strike what they thought was a cable though the Civil Aviation is refusing to comment on that aspect of the crash specifically.

Jaz was still stunned no-one was hurt.

"I just can't believe that someone could walk away from it to be honest - the pilot and all the people watching. They're my first thoughts. It's just unbelievable."

Gribble's wife Elaine saw the crash on television news and said she did not expect to sleep much last night, calling it every pilot's wife's nightmare.

''He's very, very lucky, God was on his side there," she said.

''I feel sick inside, I need to come to terms with what's gone on.''

Elaine said her husband had suffered blows to his head and was too dazed to speak yesterday.

''He's just been sitting in the chair, shell-shocked.''

The helicopter wreckage was removed from the Viaduct last night after the CAA carried out a scene examination.

CAA spokeswoman Emma Peel would not comment on the cause of the accident.

"Everything that you can see, the investigators can see and they'll have a lot of background information on what that means.

"So they're working on piecing together the big picture now and looking at every element and that will be one of the elements."

The preliminary report would be released in about three weeks.