TAIC: Airbus AS350-B3 rotor struck terrain before fatal Mt Aspiring crash

New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission has released an interim report into the May 17 crash of Airbus AS350-B3 ZK-IJW in Mt Aspiring National Park, 24 km west of Makarora. The Commission confirmed that the helicopter’s main rotor blades contacted the mountain face before the aircraft fell about 30 metres down the slope. The pilot and guide aboard were killed, and the helicopter was destroyed.

TAIC said the aircraft was supporting aerial-assisted trophy hunting with a second helicopter nearby. After a chamois was shot and fell into a steep ravine, the pilot and guide returned to retrieve it. Recovered cockpit-camera footage showed the helicopter hovering beside a rocky ledge while the guide exited through the front-left door when the accident sequence began. Rock and tussock marks supported the finding of main-rotor contact with terrain.

The accident occurred at about 9:35 a.m., according to cockpit video and a passenger photograph. TAIC said the helicopter’s emergency locator transmitter activated, but its broken antenna prevented a signal from being transmitted. The Commission’s inquiry remains open, and its interim report does not assign a cause or make final safety findings.

Why it matters

The report provides a confirmed sequence for a fatal close-terrain operation, while leaving causal analysis for the final inquiry. It also underscores the operational consequences when an activated emergency locator transmitter cannot radiate a usable distress signal.

Sources: Transport Accident Investigation Commission — AO-2026-002 Airbus AS350-B3 ZK-IJW inquiry; 1News — Helicopter plunged 30m down mountain after blades struck rockface; NZ Herald — Mt Aspiring helicopter crash: Rotor blades struck mountain, TAIC report finds