Searchers who recovered pilot Morgan Saxton's body by improvising in 'very trying conditions' say they were determined to bring closure to his family.
Divers last night recovered the body of the missing 31-year-old Haast man from deep in Lake Wanaka.
Sergeant Aaron Nicholson, Wanaka SAR Co-ordinator, said the body was found inside helicopter wreckage 94m below the lake surface about 9pm last night.
"Everyone involved worked very hard to return Morgan to his family and we are all grateful to have been able to help bring closure to this tragedy."
The depth of the wreckage, which was found using sonar equipment, was beyond the range of the dive teams so divers improvised a hook which they attached to an underwater remote operated camera, which was then used to attach a line to the fuselage.
"This was classic number eight wire Kiwi ingenuity," Sgt Nicholson said. "We used a ski pole, a snap hook and LandSAR climbing rope, plus dive team muscle."
Police and Navy dive teams dive teams also recovered most of the fuselage of the two-seater Robinson R22.
Mr Saxton went missing on Saturday evening at about 6.00pm while flying from Wanaka Airport from Haast.
Sgt Nicholson praised the efforts of all those involved in the LandSAR operation.
"This has been a major operation involving police, Navy, LandSAR volunteers and the local helicopter community. The professionalism of all involved has been exemplary," he said.
Police will be referring the incident to the Coroner for routine investigation into the cause of death.
Transport Accident Investigation Commission investigators were expected to arrive in Wanaka later today to head the crash investigation and decide whether or not to attempt to retrieve the helicopter engine which is in 74m of water.
Mr Saxton's disappearance sparked an intensive three-day ground, marine and aerial search launched which included extensive use of night vision equipment.
Sgt Nicholson said it was clear after this time that efforts needed to be centred under the water and the Police and Navy dive teams were contacted and have been combing the lake bed of the crash site with sophisticated sonar and camera equipment for the past two days.
