GRANT HARDING
What possessed two experienced aviators to take off in ``atrocious' conditions that had grounded a Lowe Walker Corporation Rescue Helicopter?
That is the question which has everyone scratching their heads after two men plunged to their deaths in a microlight aircraft early on Sunday morning, approximately 200 metres off the
end of the Wairoa Airport runway.
They have been named as Darren John McNay, 39, and Antony Donald Bell, 30, both of Wairoa.
Mr McNay was the Wairoa Aero Club chairman, while Mr Bell was a qualified instructor.
Police have not revealed who was flying the Zenair 601 low wing microlight when it took off at 3.15am.
But suspicions that alcohol could be a factor in the crash are at the forefront of the investigation.
Sergeant Chris Flood of Wairoa police confirmed that ``the men had attended a party earlier on in the evening.'
At about 3am they had gone to the airport with another man, who stayed behind at the hangar. At about 4.40am he raised the alarm by calling 111, having not heard any evidence of a crash.
Hawke's Bay Today understands other people knew the men were intending to fly.
Mr Flood said Wairoa police went to the airport immediately ``but in the atrocious weather and pitch black conditions couldn't see (anything).'
A Lowe Walker Corporation Rescue Helicopter, which had stayed over in Wairoa due to the weather, was called in by the Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand and it located the aircraft at 7.30am.
Lowe Walker pilot Paul Wolff said because a microlight is not a heavy or a fast aircraft ``they don't tear themselves apart'. But it was obviously ``a heavy impact', the plane appearing to have hit the ground ``vertically'.
At about the time of the crash Mr Wolff said he was awake, checking the weather conditions himself.
``The conditions didn't suit any civil aviation conditions for flight,' he said.
At the time the region was being hit by heavy showers, and there were reports of lightning and patches of fog.
The deceased men were cut out of the aeroplane and removed by police and Wairoa Volunteer Fire Service personnel.
Civil Aviation Authority inspectors started their scene examination late yesterday afternoon. Ankle-deep mud was hampering progress, but it was possible they would finish today and the wreckage would be removed and secured, CAA spokesman Bill Sommer said.
Meanwhile the Wairoa and flying communities only have questions. Wairoa Aero Club secretary Richard Tollison said if alcohol was involved it was ``totally out of character'.
``Antony was so responsible as far as aviation and looking after his students and other pilots in the club was concerned,' he said.
Mr Tollison said he saw the third man, who alerted police, at the police station.
``He was obviously very, very subdued and in a state of shock.'
Mr Tollison had been alerted that a plane was missing at 5am, and given the conditions ``couldn't understand what was going on'.
Wairoa is a small club with about a dozen members.
Mr Tollison said, ``I just can't understand it, I have no experience of them other than them being responsible.'
GRANT HARDING
What possessed two experienced aviators to take off in ``atrocious' conditions that had grounded a Lowe Walker Corporation Rescue Helicopter?
That is the question which has everyone scratching their heads after two men plunged to their deaths in a microlight aircraft early on Sunday morning, approximately 200 metres off the
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