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VIDEO: Helicopter Crashes While Installing A Christmas Tree

NPR | By Eyder Peralta
Published November 23, 2011 at 3:53 PM EST
Firefighters spray foam at the scene where a helicopter crashed while installing a large Christmas Tree at the Viaduct Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand.
Phil Walter
/
Getty Images
Firefighters spray foam at the scene where a helicopter crashed while installing a large Christmas Tree at the Viaduct Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand.

We're not trying to terrify you before your long holiday weekend, with another tale of holiday accidents, but we had to pass along this video, which also has an implied holiday lesson: When you use a helicopter to put up a Christmas tree, make sure its propellers steer clear of obstacles.

That's not what happened in Auckland, New Zealand, yesterday, when a helicopter was installing the base of the seven-story Telecom Christmas Tree:

Now, we'd argue it also brings a separate, happier message for this Thanksgiving weekend: The pilot walked away with minor injuries and the incident did not hurt anyone on the ground.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta
Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.
See stories by Eyder Peralta
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