( dpa ) - Two aircraft engineers were found guilty Thursday of the manslaughter of a New Zealand helicopter pilot who died when his machine crashed because it had not been assembled properly, news reports said.
The helicopter crashed on August 26 2005, the day pilot Philip Devon Heney, father of nine, collected it from Skytech Aviation, Nelson, after routine maintenance.
Investigators found the aircraft's tail assembly had not been put together properly and Skytech's owner, John Horrell, 56, and maintenance engineer, Ronald Potts, 60, had not directly supervised the job and checked it as required by law.
A Nelson High Court jury took nine hours to reach guilty verdicts against the men, who were remanded on bail for sentence on May 2.
Potts' lawyer, Pip Hall, told the jury the tragic accident was the result of human error, not deliberate criminal offending, adding, "Circumstances conspired that caused an error by him which had horrendous consequences, but it was not such gross misconduct that requires him to be labelled a killer."