'Little bit of white' saves seriously injured ute driver - Stuff

Save for a fleeting glimpse, a seriously injured man trapped overnight in his ute could have died, a rescue chopper pilot said.

Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter's Aaron Knight said an early Thursday morning truckie on Kawakawa-Orere Road in rural south east Auckland spotted the man's wrecked ute 10 metres down a bank.

"He was over the moon, he was very lucky, the passerby saw a little bit of white in the bush, stopped and went to check."

The man had endured 12 hours in his smashed ute, trapped by a collapsed roof and unable to extricate himself due to the severity of his injuries, Knight said.

The truckie raised the alarm with emergency services who arrived just before 9am.

"He was found with spinal damage which prevented him from moving, his feet were pointed toward the steering wheel and he was on his head."

Knight's chopper arrived at the Kawaka Bay crash scene 15 minutes after being scrambled, his crew could barely see the upturned double-cab ute from the air.

After being cut free and stretchered up the bank to a nearby paddock the man was flown to Middlemore Hospital's spinal unit in a "serious but stable" condition, he said.

Police and the Serious Crash Unit were called to investigate the cause of the incident.