LEAD STORY: HB rescue pilot dies in crash

A Hastings pilot killed when his helicopter hit power lines and crashed in Australia on Thursday has been identified as Lowe Corporation Rescue Service relief flyer and Hastings helicopter company owner Chris Mansell.
The 50-year-old father of two died when the helicopter hit power lines and plunged into a pine plantation while spraying at Ryton Junction, near Mirboo in the Gippsland area of Victoria, about 160km east of Melbourne.
The crash was almost identical to another in which Mr Mansell was injured in Hawke's Bay 20 months ago.
Skyline Aviation managing director Mike Toogood, whose company provides the helicopter service to the Hawke's Bay Helicopter Rescue Trust, said: ``It's pretty devastating, particularly after the earlier crash, and it's hard to comprehend that he's met his fate in such a similar situation.''
The owner of Bay Heliwork and having been in Australia for about two weeks on contract for a company whose helicopter he was flying at the time of the crash, Mr Mansell was a ``very, very, competent'' pilot, Mr Toogood said.
He had recently passed competency tests to fly the Hawke's Bay service's new BK117, and had flown numerous rescue missions for several of the trusts throughout New Zealand, from off-shore winches to mountain work.
With another pilot currently out of action after a motorbike accident, other rescue services _ highlighting the close-knit nature of the helicopter and rescue fraternity _ were quick yesterday to offer help to the Hawke's Bay service in their time of shortage, although it has pilots available.
Mr Toogood said the immediate priority would be to ensure that Mr Mansell was brought home as soon as possible to be with long-time partner Paula Walton, the couple's two children, aged 7 and 11, and his family, who are based in Horowhenua where he is understood to have grown up.
Hastings Police had helped establish contacts with authorities in the region of the crash, and a member of Mr Mansell's family, who was in Australia, was going to Melbourne to help facilitate the return.
Mr Mansell's Hawke's Bay crash happened on September 15, 2008, when the Robinson 44 he was flying hit powerlines while spraying between Napier and Puketitiri, and crashed about 15 metres to the ground. His loader driver found him in the wreckage with a broken arm, a punctured lung, chest injuries and burns.
The following February he told Hawke's Bay Today rehabilitation had been a long process, but he was determined to fly again, and he was able to take to the controls later in the year after passing the required medical tests.