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A joint funeral will be held on Wednesday for the Canterbury couple who died in a helicopter crash near Kaikōura.
Andrew Hamish Davidson, 60, and Lin Chen, 39, will be fired at a service at Westpark Chapel in Burnside on Wednesday afternoon. A private cremation will then take place.
Davidson was the pilot of the helicopter that crashed into the mouth of the Kekerengu River during a flight from Christchurch at around 12:40 p.m. on December 15.
The couple’s two young children and a third child survived the accident but were seriously injured. The children, two boys and a girl, all under the age of 14, were airlifted to Wellington Hospital.
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Davidson served as CEO of Enatel Motive Power and was a director of the electronics company.
Brya Ingram / Stuff
The helicopter crashed into the mouth of the Kekerengu River.
A funeral notice for Davidson said she was a beloved husband, father, brother, brother-in-law and uncle, while a notice for Chen described her as a beloved wife, mother and daughter.
His family thanked the emergency services and volunteers who provided help and care at the scene. The notices requested that donations be made to the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust in lieu of flowers.
The Transportation Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) has opened an investigation into the accident.
TAIC spokesman Simon Pleasants said Wednesday that a full and wide-ranging investigation could take about two years to complete.
There was no indication that an interim report was issued earlier, he said. Such reports were generally issued within three months of an accident if there was a clear explanation of how it happened.
The investigation would examine a wide collection of evidence, including the helicopter itself, its maintenance and history, and the condition and experience of the pilot, Pleasants.
Investigators removed the helicopter wreckage from the beach on December 16.
