The KC-518 built by Composite Helicopters International is the worlds first all carbon kevlar helicopter. The pilot and company president Peter Maloney said he saw a turbine warning light come on and then lost power before declaring a Mayday and performing what he described as a textbook emergency ditching into the water.
The water landing was effectively uneventful, everything went as it should do in a condition like that and we both managed to get out of the aircraft without any injuries
The moment of impact was caught on camera as the company were filming the event for a promotional video, the helicopter had completed around 200 hours of flying time and the aircraft is still in its flight evaluation phase, The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand have said they will investigate the cause of the crash.