One helicopter company is lodging an insurance claim following the crash of its rescue helicopter this week – which could mean a large payout from the insurer for the wreck.
An article by Radio NZ detailed the case of Southern Lakes Helicopters, which owns the helicopter that crashed near the Auckland Islands on April 22. The aircraft had been travelling to near the subantarctic island for a medical evacuation, but its wreckage was found about three kilometres from shore the next day.
Southern Lakes Helicopters’ operating manager Lloyd Matheson told the publication the firm’s next task is to start claiming insurance. However, he expects the insurance claims process to be complicated as the gear lost includes equipment from St. John Ambulance, Southern Lakes Helicopters and the Lakes District Rescue Trust. The Trust helps equip the crew and aircraft.
“In the aircraft there's defibrillators, there's winches, all the medical [gear] and all our night vision goggles got lost,” he said. “They're owned by the company, they're not supplied by the Trust. They're worth gold so there's a lot of stuff been lost a[t] sea and we've got to look at replacing all of that.”
Matheson noted the downed helicopter was the company's only aircraft with night vision. He hoped to replace the aircraft sooner rather than later so the lower South Island was not left short of a rescue helicopter.
