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A court of inquiry has now been convened to conduct one of the most detailed crash investigations ever conducted by the Air Force.
The investigation comes after an Air Force helicopter smashed into a hillside, killing three people.
The Iroquois helicopter was on its way from Ohakea to an Anzac Day service in Wellington when it crashed near Porirua shortly before 6am yesterday.
Flying Officer Daniel Stephen Gregory, 28, Corporal Benjamin Andrew Carson, 25, and Flight Lieutenant Hayden Peter Madsen, 33, died.
The sole surviving crew member, Sergeant Stevin Creegan, who was found near the wreckage, remains in a serious but stable condition in Wellington Hospital with chest and leg injuries. The Air Force says it's hopeful he will make a full recovery.
Concern has been raised over the age of the 1960s era Iroquois but a defence specialist, Lance Beath, says it had been well maintained.
And aviation commentator Peter Clark says the Iroquois has been a fantastic helicopter - reliable and relatively free of accidents.
But Clark says flying conditions at the time of yesterday's crash were difficult.
He says it is hazardous to fly in the transition between night and morning and the pilots were dealing with low cloud, fog, and high cliffs.
It is understood the impact of low cloud and limited light will be the initial focus of the inquiry.
Air Force crash investigators have taken control of the scene where the investigation is being carried out. The wreckage is then expected to be removed by a second helicopter for detailed analysis.
Air Force chief, Air Vice Marshal Graham Lintott says some information from the crash will be almost instantly available.
"They can analyse engine power, settings, they can analyse the instrumentation - there's a heck of a lot that they will get quite quickly," he says.
Lintott told TV ONE's Breakfast the investigation will be very thorough.
"We've convened a court of inquiry which is led by a senior officer, with specialist accident investigators, engineers, pilots, psychologists. And we will look into every aspect of that flight.
"We will go deep and wide and we will look even as far back as the individuals' pilot training just to make sure there's no causal link that's led to this tragedy."
Lintott says the court of inquiry will quite quickly get knowledge of the flight regime but the Air Force will not be announcing any results until the full investigation has been done and that could take weeks.
"We do know that it was dark. We do know that there was low cloud and drizzle and I suspect the court of inquiry will be focusing on those things initially."
The helicopter had been flying with two other Iroquois shortly before the crash.
But the probable flight path shows the helicopter deviated from the coastal route, heading across the rugged terrain near Pukerua Bay towards Wellington.
It was thought that they had split up just before the incident, due to the conditions, Lintott said.
"Because of the visibility we believe they split up and went their individual way," he says.
However, some pilots say the normal route in marginal conditions would be to stay near the sea.
"The coastline is the easiest way to track down there and the State Highway is obviously going to be the most lit area with vehicles on the highway so that would be the normal track," says Rick Lucas, Helipro CEO.
Lintott adds that the flight was standard and though the weather was poor "we fly in poor weather all of the time".
"We do fly in inclement weather, and we have procedures for doing that. They followed, as far as I am aware, the appropriate procedures for this flight."
The crew was young, but that did not mean they were inexperienced, he says.
"They would not have been authorised to undertake this flight if we did not have full confidence in their capabilities, their professionalism, their readiness, their health.
"But obviously something went very, very wrong and the investigation will find out what."
