I wonder if he's going to get violated.

Very cool footage! You don't get to see the evolution of an accident like that from this close very often!

Shoulda used a crane.

Not good... Didn't look like anyone got hurt, but I bet the Pilot got a joint or 2 twisted around.

unbelievable they even tried a stunt like that. it seemed almost inevitable that would happen

Glad no one was hurt, but did you see the look on that guy's face?

I hope he was wearing brown trousers

Glad the pilot made it out safely.

Wow, Just Wow

amazing is a gross understatement an i do agree a crane would have been the safest way to and i am surprised nobody got hurt

They showed a close up of this footage on the news the other night. If you view it in full screen, in the instant before contact, you can see the guy directly under the helicopter pull the running cable taut which moves it into the path of the main rotor.

I believe the cable was caught on a skid and the guy below was trying to clear it. I live in NZ and its been shown here a million times although not comments from the CAA as yet. The guy under all the action was a very lucky boy!!

I knew that Kiwis couldnt fly!

I'm very, very surprised that this pilot was so willing to fly in such close proximity to free-wheeling steel cables, let alone any form of possible rotor intrusion. That the guy on the ground attempted to pull that cable away immediately prior to the crash indicated [to me] what appeared to be an unnecessarily dangerous flying maneuver with not too much apparent consideration for safety. Was it not possible for the pilot to position the helicopter higher in order to avoid these mad risks that growing numbers of helicopter pilots seem so willing to take, especially if there's a watching crowd!

Hope he loses his licence permanently. Also hope the insurance class it as negligence and refuse to pay out. Will teach the owner to not use incompetent pilots who endanger other people.

My thanks to Joe ugulano for putting that link up, that was alot better

Bad judgement

The final decision is always the pilots. (The Good The Bad and The Ugly)

It would appear many safety parameters were breached on this project. The obvious being the location with associated obstructions as well as the pilot does not appear to be wearing a helmet or shoulder harness. He appears to be almost "thrown" out of seat as helicopter rotates and self destructs.......ALL FOR A CHRISTMAS TREE.......

Amazing footage, but amazingly crazy to even attempt to maneuver so closely to so many obstructions.

Yeah, incredibly unsafe area to operate a helicopter in. Reminds me of the stories my dad used to tell of being in a rescue chopper getting climbers off the cliffs in Kings Canyon N.P. back in the early 60's. Very scary to operate so close to a solid object.

I wonder if they will use a helicopter to lift the other helicopter out?

I watched the video on CNN and was amazed that no one was seriously hurt or killed. Key question was why was such a risky maneuver attempted with so many things around (crane, building, wires, etc.)?

That's just crazy!

where do you see the video? Thanks

the video i saw, it looked like he wasnt that far above the ground, and when he went down, one of those cables kinda slowed him up, so he hit pretty hard, but not hard enough to kill him.

WOW I mean in just a blink of an eye! Whew glad the pilot is ok but I'm sure he has a bruise or two from the fall.

Plumb stupid! What was he thinking?

I think my first conclusion was in error in terms of what the video most saw with appears to be a tower and buildings in the background. I found a different camera video angle that shows the clearance. He must have hit some guy wires to the tower and there was what appears to be plenty of room.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/helicopter-crash-pilot-like-dream-4564078/video?vid=4565912

Wow! This must be a helicopter pilot's worst nightmare. Interesting to hear the rapid deceleration noises. Thankfully no serious injuries.

WRECKED HIS NO CLAIM BONUS

Glad there were no crewmen on board...they might not have been as fortunate as the pilot.

@ Wayne Bookout --

Forgive me for being off-topic; there are some great, great photos of Fokker DR-1s in the photo gallery this week. I think I'm not mistaken in saying von Richtoven said they "climb like monkies."

Ese piloto a salvado la vida por casualidad. Debería prohibirse bajar con tan poco margen.

should have used Santa's sleigh

I don't know anything about helicopters, but there didn't seem to be any concern about fire.

No concern because it didn't catch fire. Believe me they will. Seen lot of them crash and burn. Jp4 is jp4.