Helicopter pilot flying again five years after wedding day crash

Friday, 12 June 2026

Five years on from the crash, Lynda Harrap has regained her medical clearance and is back flying and instructing.

Lynda Harrap doesn’t remember saving four lives. She just did it.

Five years ago on June 12, the Canterbury pilot was at the controls of a helicopter carrying a newlywed couple and a wedding photographer when the engine failed and the aircraft crashed at Terrace Downs.

It was a moment that changed her life forever.

“I heard a pop sound — like the noise you make when you put a finger in your mouth and pull it out,” Harrap said.

On board were newlyweds Mahdi Zougub and Fay El Hanafy, who had already postponed their wedding twice - first after the Christchurch mosque attacks and again because of Covid-19 - and wedding photographer Rachel Jordan. The helicopter had been in the air only three or four minutes when the engine failed.

The Terrace Downs wedding day crash left all four passengers seriously injured, including pilot Lynda Harrap who broke her back, damaged her spinal cord and shattered her knee.

Harrap had fractions of a second to react. The last thing she consciously remembers is a picture in her head.

“A bright lime green splodge with two dark splodges either side of it.”

The 13th fairway. Two rows of pine trees.

What happened next, she can’t explain. Her subconscious took over — turning the helicopter at a right angle through a gap in the trees, turning it back to land into the wind, lowering the collective lever, flaring to cushion the impact.

Photos taken by wedding photographer Rachel Jordan in a helicopter, shortly before it crashed at Terrace Downs.

“I don’t have any recollection of that. I just did it.”

An independent review later found her actions had saved everyone on board. The Civil Aviation Authority found the crash was caused by faulty equipment — no fault in Harrap’s actions.

When she regained consciousness, the bubble was completely smashed. Her flight manual was blowing across the golf course. A skid lay 20 metres away.

Newlyweds Fay El Hanafy, left, and Mahdi Zougub, had their June 12 wedding day cut short when their helicopter crashed, leaving them seriously injured.

“I’ll never forget the noise it made on impact. Like when you hear a car accident but you don't see it. That full dull, thud noise.”

Her first thought was not for herself.

“I remember I wasn’t scared. I was very worried about my clients and making sure they were OK.”

Harrap spent 11 weeks in Burwood Spinal Unit before beginning a lengthy road to recovery.

But she couldn’t move. Harrap had broken her back, her hand and her ribs, damaged her spinal cord, shattered her right knee and suffered deep lacerations to her left thigh and ankle. Her three passengers were also seriously injured and she was the last to leave the scene.

“It’s like the captain is the last one to leave the sinking ship.”

After surgery at Christchurch Hospital, she spent 11 weeks at the Burwood Spinal Unit. Her 80-year-old father made biscuits in Queenstown and sent them down. She went around the ward in her wheelchair handing them out.

Lynda Harrap loves her job flying helicopters and teaching people how to fly.

“I made a lot of new friends and I learned a heck of a lot about how bodies work.”

With support from ACC, she worked her way back to independence. Five years on, she has regained her medical clearance and is back doing the job she loves — flying and instructing.

“I love being up there teaching. Teaching a person to fly a helicopter is a special thing.”

She carries that day with her not as a burden, but as purpose.

“I am proud that I was able to save four lives that day. I want to move forward and perhaps this may mean I am able to keep more people safe in the sky.”