2015 Fox Glacier helicopter crash

On 21 November 2015, a Eurocopter AS350 Astar helicopter, operated by Alpine Adventures on a sightseeing flight, crashed on Fox Glacier in the South Island of New Zealand. All seven people on board died.

Accident

At the time of the crash (about 11 am NZDT), the weather was reported to be heavily overcast and raining. The aircraft crashed into a crevasse approximately 2500 m up Fox Glacier. According to Alpine Adventures' quality assurance manager, Barry Waterland, the helicopter crashed just after taking off from the glacier at a designated spot called The Chancellor. When the helicopter was reported as being overdue the pilot's flatmate, Thomas Darling, took another helicopter up to try to find them. On finding the crash site, Darling alerted the rescue coordination centre and an emergency service helicopter flew up to the crash site. Police Inspector John Canning told the media that the emergency service helicopter crews saw no sign of life, They had to return to Fox Glacier village as the weather was too bad for them to land.

Early reports based on the size of the debris field and scorch marks in the hillside above the crash site were thought to indicate that the helicopter had crashed before falling into the glacier. The helicopter did not have a transponder or black box. No mayday call was made suggesting a sudden catastrophic event.

There were six passengers, all tourists, on board, four British and two Australians. In 2017, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, England named a Radiosurgery Suite at the hospital after one of the victims.

Crash investigation

In November 2015 TAIC advised that it could take until May 2017 for its Chief investigator of accidents Captain Tim Burfoot to complete the investigation into the cause of the crash. The recovered wreckage of the helicopter was taken to TAIC's Wellington site for evaluation. The father of one of the victims of the 2010 New Zealand Fletcher FU24 crash expressed a lack of confidence in TAIC's ability to properly investigate the crash based on destruction of evidence from that crash and New Zealand's lax approach to air safety.

The helicopter engine was sent to its United States manufacturer for inspection under TAIC's investigators supervision. Flight control components were sent to Australia for testing and inspecting and a team from the helicopters French manufacturer have also inspected the wreckage held in Wellington. A draft report was being prepared in March 2017.

Local news reports stated that the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAA) had received a complaint a few days prior to the crash about the lack of landing markers on the glacier.

The TIAC report into the crash was released on 23 May 2019, and found that the helicopter struck the glacier surface with a high forward speed and a high rate of descent, the all-up weight of the helicopter almost certainly exceeded the maximum permitted weight, the weather conditions on the day were unstable and unsuitable for conducting a scenic flight and the localised weather conditions in the area were very likely to have been frequently below the minimum criteria required. The investigation determined that there was no apparent fault with the helicopter and cited the operator's pilot training system as not fully prepare the pilot for his role. TIAC also found that "the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) identified significant non-compliances with the operator's training system and with managerial oversight prior to the accident but did not intervene and the operator was allowed to continue providing helicopter air operations."