A commercial pilot was today fined $3750 for the "gravely offensive" act of hovering a helicopter over the summit of Aoraki/Mt Cook on Christmas Eve in 2011.



Jason Manderson, 40, of Waikanae, pleaded guilty by letter to the Timaru District Court, to a charge of illegal aircraft hovering, under bylaw 10 (2) of the Mount Cook National Park Bylaws 1981.



Under the bylaws it is an offence to land on or hover over any site within the Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park which is not a designated aerodrome.



In the summary of facts read to the court, the Department of Conservation (DOC) said the 3754-metre peak represented, to Ngai Tahu, "the most sacred of ancestors, from whom Ngai Tahu descend and who provide the iwi with its sense of communal identity, solidarity and purpose".



In April 2012, DOC's attention was drawn to two images on Facebook of a Squirrel helicopter positioned on the summit of Aoraki/Mt Cook.



Copies of the photographs were obtained and examination revealed they had been taken shortly after 9am on December 24, 2011, a minute apart, from opposite sides of the peak.



Manderson was piloting the helicopter, operated by South Westland-based Fox and Franz Josef Heliservices, on a commercial scenic flight with five passengers.



Spoken to on July 12, 2012, Manderson confirmed he had placed the photographs on Facebook.



At the time he claimed another pilot in the area had suggested that if he was to fly level with the summit he could get photos "to look like he was flying over the top of the mountain".



He denied landing on or hovering over the summit, claiming it would have been easy for someone to doctor the photos to make it appear he had landed.



In passing sentence, Judge Joanna Maze said the offence was "seen as one of sacrilege to those to whom Aoraki/Mt Cook is of central cultural importance".



"The fact that you did it in the interests of trade and self-aggrandisement is a double offence," she said.



Judge Maze said Manderson's action was seen as "gravely offensive" and as a result her starting point for sentencing had to be the maximum penalty available, a fine of $5000.



She gave Manderson credit for his early guilty plea in setting the fine at $3750.