Time for the media beat-up. Personally I find this sort of reporting most distasteful so soon after such an awful tragedy.
www.stuff.co.nz/national/3621251/Air-force-defends-use-of-Iroquois-after-Anzac-crash LATEST: Officials are defending the air-worthiness of the air force's Iroquois helicopter following yesterday's fatal crash.
One of the air force's worst peacetime air crashes shocked New Zealanders on the day they remember those who die in the line of service.
Three young men were killed and a fourth received serious chest and leg injuries when their Iroquois crashed at Pukerua Bay, north of Wellington, just before 6am, minutes before it was to take part in a three-helicopter flypast over the capital's Anzac Day dawn parade.
The dead were the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Hayden Peter Madsen, 33, the co-pilot, Flying Officer Daniel Stephen Gregory, 28, and crewman Corporal Benjamin Andrew Carson, 25, of Christchurch.
Their bodies were taken from the site last night.
Prime Minister John Key is cutting short his trip to Turkey, where he was attending Anzac Day services.
In separate interviews on radio New Zealand this morning, Air-vice Marshall Graham Lintott and Defence Minister Wayne Mapp each said the Iroquois were "a little bit like your grandfather's axe".
Mr Lintott said the age of the aircraft was "immaterial" and there was no risk in continuing to fly them.
"They might be forty years old but they’re a little bit like your grandfather's axe. The parts in them are renewed at the appropriate times, the servicings are regular and thorough and I have absolutely full confidence in the airworthiness of the aircraft."
The Air Force would carry out its own investigation, but as Defence Force courts of inquiry were not entirely open, there would be some secrecy around the results.
The findings would be published "as best we can in due course", he said.
The investigation in to the accident would go in to ""every possible facet", including a retrospective look at training regimes, culture and how the flight was prepare and planned.
"It'll be very, very thorough and that's why it will take some considerable time".
Air-vice Marshall Graham Lintott said the investigation would involve the Transport Accident Investigation Commission to make use of their expertise.
He hoped to visit the surviving airman in Wellington Hospital today, saying his survival seems to be one of those "miracle stories" and said he was now conscious and out of the woods after an operation on a badly broken leg yesterday.
"There's a good chance he'll make a full recovery," he said.
Defence Minister Wayne Mapp told Radio New Zealand that the wider issues of the crash had not yet been discussed as people dealt with the initial shock at the crash.
In spite of some secrecy expected to surround the investigation, he was confident the inquiry would be thorough.
"We are less than 24 hours past the accident and people are really coming to terms with it."
Mr Mapp said he was confident fault did not lie with the aircraft.
"I know how hard the air force works to keep its aircraft in good shape."
Helipro chief executive Rick Lucas lives near the crash site and said the conditions were "flyable" though there was low cloud and mist, with conditions changing regularly.
"It was coming and going but I would've gauged the conditions as flyable and in fact, that's proven by the fact that the Westpac (rescue helicopter) went out there and with the help of the other Iroquois, found the wreckage."
Mr Lucas told Radio New Zealand the Air Force helicopters were maintained to the "absolute highest standards".
"There's no question of the serviceability of the aircraft at the time."
Unwilling to speculate on the cause of the crash, he said there were many potential factors.
Flying on the coast with rising terrain on either side was typical for New Zealand helicopter pilots and Air Force helicopters were generally well-equipped to deal with difficult flying conditions.
"It's just a fact of life when we live in the terrain that we do so whilst it's a factor it's nothing unusual when flying in New Zealand."
Mr Lucas said he had no doubt that air force crash investigators would uncover what caused the crash, especially given a passenger had survived and there were other aircraft in the area at the time.
The tragedy had been felt by all in the industry, he said.
"We're a pretty tight and small bunch of people so it really hits home."
The court of inquiry to look in to the crash was convened yesterday.
The Iroquois will be replaced by NH90s later this year.
Two of the 14 Iroquois choppers will be kept at Ohakea Air Base in case they are needed.
FAMILIES DEVASTATED
Flying Officer Gregory's father, Steve Gregory, said last night that Anzac Day would forever be a time to mourn his son and celebrate everything he accomplished.
Mr Gregory, who flew from Melbourne yesterday with his wife Wendy, said the family was shell-shocked. "Our son died doing something that he wanted to do, which was honouring those who had gone before him," he said.
"We have so many happy memories of him ... We were always in awe of all the things he could do and had accomplished. He was very intelligent. For a private in the army to become an officer in the air force does not happen every day."
All three men lived on or near Ohakea airbase and leave partners, but no children.
"RIP Mad dog" was included in the tributes left on Flight Lieutenant Madsen's Facebook site. Freyberg Cricket Club president JD Fulton paid tribute to Flight Lieutenant Madsen, who had played for the club since moving from Taradale to Palmerston North 12 years ago.
"It's a pretty hard day for the guys. Everyone's feeling a bit different but they're all pretty devastated.
"It certainly puts a new meaning on Anzac Day for us," said Mr Fulton, who added that Flight Lieutenant Madsen felt honoured to be part of his first flyby on Anzac Day.
Flight Lieutenant Madsen had only lately come to terms with the death of his flight instructor, Squadron Leader Nick Cree, in a trainer accident near Bulls in January.
St Andrew's College principal Roland Burrows said Corporal Carson's enthusiasm was always evident while he was at the Christchurch school. "He was a quiet boy, kept to himself, but he was always determined to get into the air force."
Mr Key paid tribute to the men at the dawn service in Gallipoli yesterday. "Our hearts go out to their families and to the men and women of the New Zealand air force."
He hopes to be back in New Zealand by tomorrow morning and to attend the men's funerals.
Defence chief Lieutenant General Jerry Mateparae said the contingent of personnel with him at Gallipoli were all feeling the loss.
"We're a small defence force and we know those people. The prime minister knows them. I know them. We fly with them all of the time. They're part of our family."
Air Force chief Air Vice-Marshal Graham Lintott paid tribute to the men at a press conference at Ohakea airbase yesterday.
He said a court of inquiry would be launched into the crash. The air force had not dealt with three fatalities in one accident since an Iroquois crashed into Kaipara Harbour, Northland, in 1972.
Three helicopters were flying in formation to Wellington when the accident happened.
"We believe the formation split up and went their individual way. One landed at Wellington, one landed at Paraparaumu," Air Vice-Marshal Lintott said. "The flight regime would have been standard. The weather was poor but we fly in poor weather all the time."
As far as he was aware, the pilots were following proper procedures and he could only "assume" the helicopter was on course. He did not know if the pilots were using their night vision goggles.