3:10 PM
Police have identified the pilot who died when his helicopter crashed on Mt Victoria in Wellington this morning.
Andrew Shaw, of Apiti near Palmerston North, was at the controls of the Bell 204 UH-1F "Iroquois" which was carrying buckets of earth just before 10 am.
Mr Shaw was
the operations manager for Helipro, the owners of the helicopter. He was the only person aboard.
Police say he was apparently fighting to control the aircraft just before it crashed a few metres from two Canadian tourists. The tourists and another person pulled the pilot's body from the wreckage.
It is not the first tragedy to strike the pilot's family. In 1995, Mr Shaw's 20-year-old son Peter was among 14 people who died in the collapse of the Cave Creek viewing platform.
