A New Zealand Robinson helicopter distributer believes grounded Robinson 44 choppers could be airborne again in less than a month.
Civil Aviation Authority director Graeme Harris grounded all Robinson R44 series helicopters fitted with C016-7 main rotor blades until further notice as a safety precaution, and Australia's aviation safety body followed suit.
The directive was a response to an investigation into the Over the Top helicopter company R44 accident last week that killed Stephen Combe (42), of Wanaka, and James Patterson-Gardner (18), of Queenstown.
The pair were found dead at the scene of the crash, in remote bush in the Lochy Valley area, in the Eyre Mountains southwest of Queenstown.
It appeared the aircraft's main rotor blade had failed during the flight.
It was thought about 80 R44s would be affected by the directive.
A total of 184 Robinson R44 aircraft are recorded in the New Zealand Civil Aviation register.
Aviation businesses face an uncertain wait and the prospect of financial losses after the grounding of the model, because New Zealand aviation accidents can take many months to resolve.
However, Heliflite Pacific Ltd New Zealand general manager Brett Sanders believed it was possible to have the affected helicopters back in the air in less than a month.
He said Robinson R44s could have their C016-7 blades replaced with their predecessors - the C016-5 blades.
Many Robinson R44s still had the -5 blades on and were not grounded by the CAA, he said.
There was still some -5s in stock, but they would be few in number.
While -5 blades were not manufactured any more, Mr Sanders believed it would be easy for the manufacturer to retool and begin reproducing them within a month.
The only difference was the -5 was coated in stainless steel and the -7 was coated in aluminium, he said.
''They could very easily and quite quickly go back to making the -5, I believe.
''This is not a unique Robinson problem. Other [helicopter] manufacturers - Bell is a classic example - had a very similar case a couple of years ago with their Bell 206 blades.
''They had cracks-in-blade issues and they just had to re-manufacture a new batch.
''I imagine within a month or less, they could start producing stainless -5 blades again.''
With the cost of -7 blades ranging from $50,000 to $65,000 per helicopter, they will be expensive to replace.
However, he said it was early days yet, and believed the grounding might be lifted sooner rather than later.
''It's a precautionary grounding only. It's erring on the side of safety, which is what you've got to do.''
