Life-long mates die together in plane crash

The wreckage of the top-dressing aircraft was discovered amid thick bush in Pukenui Forest, just four kilometres from downtown Whangarei, about 11.15am yesterday. Tania Webb
Former Dargaville men Peter Beatty and Greg Nash went to school together, spent years working together - and on a densely forested hill near Whangarei, the best mates died together.
Mr Beatty, 49, a Super Air top-dressing pilot, and Mr Nash, 56, a fertiliser loader, were raised in Tangiteroria and worked in Dargaville for most of their lives, but had moved to Pukekohe in the past three years.
The men were back in Northland to help crews in the area with heavy workloads.
They had been top-dressing south-east of Kaikohe on Tuesday, but when it became too windy to continue applying fertiliser they decided to head for Whangarei.
One of the men sent a text message to his partner at 11.36am and phoned Whangarei Airport to say they were on their way, but their Fletcher plane never made it. There was low cloud and poor visibility at the time.
Family members raised the alarm about 11.30pm Tuesday and an unsuccessful private air search was carried out soon after.
An extensive air search was launched at first light yesterday, involving about 40 volunteers, friends of the flyers, five helicopters and four fixed-wing aircraft.
Searchers found the wrecked plane about four kilometres west of Whangarei on a slope in the dense Pukenui Forest at 11.15am.
The two men are believed to have died instantly as the aircraft made a "high-speed" impact. It may take two days to free their bodies from the wreckage and equipment will have to be dropped by air to the crash site.
Those who knew Mr Beatty well describe him as a "thorough and accurate pilot" with more than 14,000 flying hours behind him. Both men had families.
Mr Nash's cousin, Christine Gallagher, of Dargaville, said the deaths of the two men would affect many people in the area.
"It's just sinking in at the moment ... it's unbelievable."
The two friends "went back a long way", she said. She had last seen Mr Nash two months ago at a family reunion in Whangarei and he had been his usual happy-go-lucky self. "He was just the most fun person, just wonderful, just lovely." Mr Nash had three children but is survived by only one son. One of his sons died in a motorcycle accident two years ago and a stepson died in a car accident some years earlier.
Murray Foster, president of the Dargaville Aero Club, said Mr Beatty was an "excellent pilot".
"I gave him his first flight in an aeroplane." Mr Beatty was then aged about 20, and had always known he would be a pilot. He got his commercial licence and became "one of the best top-dressing pilots around". "He was a safe pilot. He didn't take any risks and didn't sky lark."
Mr Foster said Mr Nash had his private pilot's licence. "He followed Peter down to Pukekohe. He's been Peter's loader, they were good mates," he said.
Trevor Gwillim, manager of Dargaville's Ravensdown bulk fertiliser store, knew Mr Beatty for about 17 years. "He was a great guy, a great pilot, a top man really. It's a bit hard to comprehend really. He was very good at his job. Very methodical."
He believed Mr Nash was Mr Beatty's only loader operator.
A Super Air spokesman said Mr Beatty and Mr Nash were "long-serving employees and their loss is being keenly felt by their colleagues".
Two Civil Aviation Authority investigators were expected to be at the site today to start the task of trying to establish the crash's cause.
About 15 to 20 family members arrived at Whangarei Airport yesterday, consoling one another while waiting for news of their loved ones to come through.