Company and director charged over fatal Otago helicopter crash https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/ ... pter-crash
The company and director of a helicopter firm involved in a fatal crash in a remote part of Otago has? been charged.
Alister John Lister, 49, a director of Milton-base Lister Helicopters Ltd, faces multiple charges laid by the Civil Aviation Authority, after the crash, which claimed the life of Dan Harrison, 36, on Thursday, September 16, 2021.
The pilot was flying from the company’s base in Milton to Alexandra when he was reported missing, and the crash site was discovered on the Lammerlaw Range above the Waipori River, about 10 kilometres north of Lawrence.
After an investigation of the crash, the Civil Aviation Authority laid multiple charges against Lister, who had his appearance excused before Judge Kevin Phillips in the Dunedin District Court on Thursday morning.
Charges against Lister, who is listed in court documents as chief pilot/director, include causing or permitting an aircraft, namely a Eurocopter AS350 B3, more commonly known as a ‘Squirrel’ ‘’to be operated in a manner which cause unnecessary danger to any other person, namely Daniel Harrison’’.
That danger, according to court documents, was from piloting the helicopter in a night cross-country flight.
That charge carries a maximum penalty of one year imprisonment or a fine not exceeding $10,000.
The company faces the same charge, which has a maximum penalty of $100,000.