The pilot of a helicopter that dropped a concrete block on a gondola cable at an Austrian ski resort, killing nine Germans, has received a 15-month suspended prison sentence.
Nine others were injured when a malfunction made the helicopter dump its 680-kg (1,500-lb) load on the cable carrying tourists in gondolas to a glacier near Soelden in September 2005.
The Austrian Press Agency said the pilot, 36, who was not named, was convicted by the court in Innsbruck on a charge of negligently endangering the public but acquitted of a more serious charge of negligently causing injury.
While recognising that there had been a malfunction, prosecutors said the pilot should not have flown over the cable car route as this breached both aviation regulations and the helicopter firm's guidelines.
The concrete block knocked one cable car to the ground, while two other gondolas shook so violently that their occupants were hurled out, the prosecutors' office said.
Six of the Germans killed were children.