The bodies of the three young men killed in Sunday's mid-air collision above Paraparaumu have been returned to their families.
The accident happened when an R22 helicopter and a Cessna 152 light plane collided above the Kapiti Coast town, north of Wellington, at 11.15am on Sunday.
The helicopter
fell through the roof of Paraparaumu's Placemakers store, just missing staff and customers.
The plane's fuselage landed about 250m away in Dennis Taylor Court, with its engine crashing through one of the houses in that cul-de-sac.
David Mark Fielding, 30, and James David Taylor, 19, were in the helicopter and died at the scene.
The pilot of the light plane, Bevan Andrew Hookway, 17, survived the collision but died from his injuries at Wellington Hospital that day.
Senior Sergeant Alasdair Macmillan of Kapiti police said post mortems had been completed and the coroner had authorised the release of the bodies to their next of kin, enabling funeral arrangements to begin.
Funeral services for the occupants of the helicopter were planned for Friday afternoon, with Mr Hookway's to take place at Kapiti College and Mr Fielding's at the Kapiti Aero Club.
The family of Mr Taylor was to return to their home in the Nelson Lakes area, where it was expected a service would be held.
A community memorial service for the victims would be held at St Paul's in Paraparaumu at 2pm next Thursday.
A commercial firm is working with police this afternoon to clean the helicopter crash site in the Placemaker's panel yard so that the business can fully re-open.
Mr Macmillan said a small police team remained on the investigation, alongside Transport Accident Investigation Commission staff.
- NZPA
