The 31-year-old pilot and his Robinson R22 helicopter disappeared over the lake during a flight from Haast on Saturday evening.
His body was found inside the wreckage of his machine in almost 100 metres of water yesterday afternoon and successfully brought to the surface after a four-hour operation involving the collaboration of police divers, navy specialists, and the local community.
When police realised the likely depth of the crash site, it called on the navy dive team based at Devonport in Auckland.
They arrived in Wanaka with their Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), which is more used to finding mines on the relatively flat surface of the sea floor.
Lieutenant Commander Andrew McMillan, in charge of the navy dive team, said they quickly realised the challenges they faced.
"At Lake Wanaka, we are dealing with a glacial lake which has a cliff face of 45 degrees and a depth down to 300m.
"Our maximum depth for searching is 100m."
With the wreckage of the helicopter and Mr Saxton's body resting at 94m, Lt Cdr McMillan said the team knew they were working at the limit of their capabilities.
No one had any experience in making a recovery from such a depth. They knew they had to attach a rope to the wreckage but did not know how that could be achieved.
"This is where the Kiwi ingenuity came into play," Lt Cdr McMillan said.
"After discussions with one of the locals, we strapped an old ski pole to the side of our ROV and used a bit of insulation tape to strap a large snap hook on the front, attached to a piece of rope."
They sent their machine, and a smaller commercial ROV brought in from Christchurch, down into the lake, having no idea of their chances of success.
There was a lot at stake. Even if they managed to attach the rope to the wreckage, the greatest risk was that they could lose Mr Saxton's body on the long journey back to the surface.
The ROV drivers, on a barge above the crash site, battled lack of light, swirling sediment, and the lake's current to successfully hook the rope around the helicopter's fuselage.
On the surface, things weren't much better. Rescue teams worked from the barge which could not be anchored in windy conditions, and snow which was falling to lake level.
A digger was brought on to the barge, its arm extended over the water, with a pulley attached, through which the navy team, the police, and civilian helpers manually pulled the rope up.
When the navy ROV reached five metres from the lake surface with the 250kg wreckage still attached, police divers entered the water and removed Mr Saxton's body.
"To bring it all together, I'm just amazed we were able to do it," Lt Cdr McMillan said.
The rescue teams had got a great result, "making the best out of a very sad situation". "
Earlier in the week I was very doubtful that we would even be able to find the wreckage, let alone recover it," he said He met Mr Saxton's family this morning and they were "extremely grateful" to the rescue teams for what they had achieved.
"I think we have been able to give them closure."
