THE Albury pilot who crashed his helicopter at Table Top was still recovering in hospital yesterday afternoon.
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Hugh Acton-Adams, 27, spoke briefly to The Border Mail from his bed at Albury Base Hospital after surviving the shocking incident on Tuesday.
He appeared to be upbeat as he explained that he had sustained cuts to his hand during the crash and was undergoing a course of antibiotics.
Mr Acton-Adams had been kept in overnight for observation and was expected to be released from the hospital yesterday.
But a Greater Southern Area Health Service spokeswoman said he was still awaiting to be discharged at 5pm.
Mr Acton-Adams is the managing director and chief pilot of Rotor Solutions Australia, an Albury company which The Border Mail understands he established just last week.
He had been contracted to spray Paterson’s curse on private property off Knox Road when his Bell JetRanger clipped power lines and spiralled to the ground.
Albury police said Mr Acton-Adams walked 2.5km to get help, with a large part of the journey through rugged terrain.
He was taken to hospital in a stable condition.
Family members who have rallied in support of Mr Acton-Adams were amazed by how he walked away from the accident.
They said yesterday he had been trained well and did everything right when his helicopter struck trouble.
His father, Arnaud Acton-Adams, has previously described how it was several minutes before he was able to make contact with his son after the accident.
“He might have been unconscious for five minutes,” he said.
“He made contact, shut all the electrics off (and) pushed the beacon.”
Police have reported the incident to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
A spokesman from the bureau, however, said that limited resources meant it would not be investigating the accident.
