The "fully qualified'' UK pilot had been flying the two-seater, single engine plane for about 30 minutes after taking off from Bridge Pa Aerodrome for a training exercise before the crash.
Mr Govenlock understood the weather to be fine for flying and said it was too early to speculate on whether mechanical or engine failure had caused the 30-year-old well maintained aircraft to crash.
A Hastings resident saw a small plane flying overhead, its engine "coughing and spluttering'', before the crash was discovered.
Brent McArthur said he was walking home in Hastings just after 11am when he heard a small aircraft "sounding very odd''.
Mr McArthur was on the corner of St Aubyn St East and Riverslea Road when the aircraft flew over heading west, towards the Bridge Pa Aerodrome.
"It just sounded really odd, you don't hear that sound. It was missing and coughing and spluttering.''
He often saw small aircraft from the aerodrome flying overhead, and said the plane was flying much lower than usual. "It just didn't sound right.''
He assumed the plane was suffering engine trouble and was heading to the aerodrome, about 8km away.
Mr McArthur said after seeing news reports that a tomahawk plane had crashed, he had looked up pictures of the aircraft and believed it was the same type of plane he saw.
However the crash site, in a riverbed near Maraekakaho, is a further 12km past the aerodrome.
