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The Cessna aircraft which collided with a helicopter, Paraparaumu, New Zealand, Monday, February 18, 2008 - Source: Reuters -
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The man accused of sending a forged email that was used in a coroner's inquest into a fatal mid-air collision is set to defend the charges against him.
Former Civil Aviation Authority safety expert Peter Kirker, 52, faces three charges in relation to a fake letter which was sent to the family of one of the three victims in the crash.
A helicopter flown by student James David Taylor, 19, with experienced rescue pilot David Fielding, 30, as his instructor, and a Cessna piloted by Bevan Andrew Hookway, 17, collided over Paraparaumu on February 17 2008, killing all three.
The helicopter fell through the roof of Paraparaumu's Placemakers store, just missing staff and customers, while the plane's fuselage landed about 250m away in Dennis Taylor Court, with its engine crashing through a house roof.
During the last sitting of the inquest in late October an unsolicited email was allegedly sent to Fielding's family in the name of Massey University School of Aviation manager Frank Sharp.
But CAA say the email was not sent from Sharp.
Coroner Ian Smith requested that police investigate the origins of the email and charges against Kirker were subsequently laid.
Kirker's lawyer told the Porirua District Court he intends to defend the charges when he reappears in mid-February.
He faces charges of forgery, use of forged document and perverting the course of justice.
Kirker was suspended from his duties, pending the completion of the investigation.
He has since resigned from the CAA.
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