A helicopter has been deployed from Fox Glacier, in the first of several planned recovery missions since Sunday.
Body recovery teams have landed on Fox Glacier.
Improved weather conditions allowed authorities to resume the operation this morning to recover the three remaining bodies from the Alpine Adventures helicopter crash site.
A helicopter containing four Alpine Cliff Rescue team members took off from Fox Glacier township this morning.
Queenstown pilot Mitch Gameren, 28, died alongside six tourists when the Alpine Adventures helicopter he was flying on a scenic trip plunged into a deep crevasse in the glacier on Saturday.
The bodies of all three female passengers underwent post mortems in Christchurch yesterday, along with the body of a man who is yet to be formally identified.
The tourists were Andrew Virco, 50, and his partner Katharine Walker, 51, of Cambridge, England; Nigel Edwin Charlton, 66, and his wife Cynthia, 70, of Hampshire, England; and Australians Sovannmony Leang, 27, and Josephine Gibson, 29.
Fog is currently hovering over Fox Glacier. Photo / Supplied
Police officer in charge of the rescue operation, Inspector John Canning, said this morning: "What we need to do is locate the victims. If we locate them, I am super-confident we will have them out."
Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) spokesman Peter Northcote said their engineering expert showed Alpine Cliff Rescue workers key components of the crashed chopper on a similar aircraft.
"It may be that they have to do some disassembly to the accident aircraft," he said.
Once the evidence is "preserved" the wreckage will be lifted off the ice and eventually taken to Wellington for further examination. Families of the victims are making travel arrangements to Fox Glacier.
Police have initiated contact with South Westland iwi Te Runanga o Makaawhio to prepare for a blessing of the site, once the recovery had been completed.
The helicopter plunged into a deep crevasse in Fox Glacier on Saturday. Photo / NZ Police
Hokitika weather observer Mark Crompton said today the light north-westerly flow currently "socking" soupy mist against the South Westland ranges was highly likely to hamper the recovery effort for a few more days, and with a heavy rain band due to hit the area later tomorrow he could not see the weather lifting until Sunday.
Any fine spells before then were likely to be very brief and the recovery teams would have to make the best of any break they might get before more heavy rain arrives late tomorrow, Mr Crompton said.
"I would think that it's likely that those conditions would persist today," he said.
"There could be some fine breaks this afternoon, but more likely the fine breaks will be out on the coast. Inland, I'd be very surprised if it was a significant clearance for them."
