Helicopter crash probably soon after take-off

Michael Erceg's brother Ivan and Guus Klatte's partner Floor Heering at the site where the helicopeter was found. Picture / Nigel Marple

Multi-millionaire Michael Erceg and his flying companion probably died within half an hour of leaving Auckland in his $1.7m helicopter, say rescue officials.

They say the nearly new Eurocopter probably flew straight into the small stand of bush at the base of Mt Karioi on November 4, instantly killing both Mr Erceg and his passenger, Dutch beer company executive Guus Klatte.

A local resident reported hearing a large bang at the time of the crash and said the weather conditions at the time were extremely bad.

The helicopter was destroyed. One body was found half in the helicopter and the other was believed to have been thrown out.

Rescue officials said today they probably died soon after they were last seen on radar in the Raglan area at 10.15am on November 4.

Mr Erceg took off from Ardmore Airfield in Auckland about 9.45am and was flying to Queenstown with planned fuel stops at Wanganui and Rangiora.

The disappearance of the helicopter sparked the largest search in New Zealand aviation history.

The Rescue Co-ordination Centre, under fire for calling off the search too early, said it now appeared almost all the sightings were false, although well-intentioned.

Rescue centre spokesman Lindsay Sturt said no one had any idea where the helicopter went down. The aerial on the aircraft's emergency locator beacon had broken off.

A herd manager living near Mt Karioi said today that she heard the crash.

"It was somewhere between 9.45am and 10.30am, and sounded like a back door slamming, only there would have been no back door left," she said.

"It sounded like someone had dropped something large."

The woman, who would not to be named, lives about a kilometre from the crash site on the northeast side of Mt Karioi.

She told her boss, who called police, but did not hear back from anyone for a week. Searchers revealed yesterday that her call was one of about 1200 tips received during the marathon search, and another caller told of a low-flying aircraft in the same area.

The woman said the weather on the day of the crash was "horrible".

"The mountain was all covered, it was windy and rainy."

It wasn't until a week after the helicopter went missing that the Rescue Co-ordination Centre phoned her to ask her what she had heard. The same day the official search was called off.
"Over the days to follow, I started to doubt myself, because people were saying they saw it down near Wanganui."

She said finding the helicopter so close to her house was a surprise, because she didn't see or hear the helicopter in flight.

- nzpa