Cattle contributed to fatal air crash

A fatal plane crash on an Arrowtown golf course last month happened after the pilot was forced to try a second landing because cattle blocked his path. Photo / Getty Images

A pilot died in a plane crash on an Arrowtown golf course after he was forced to try a second landing because cattle blocked his path, says a report.

The Civil Aviation Authority today released a preliminary report on the the crash involving the Cessna 172, ZK-JFI, on October 17 this year.

Pilot Ian Sloan died after the plane nosedived into the golf course in Arrowtown, and his two passengers suffered serious injuries.

The front seat passenger recorded the fatal landing on his iPhone, and the video has been used to help figure out what happened during the crash.

The Tauranga pilot had flown two passengers to Invercargill for the day, and had returned to land at a private airstrip almost two kilometres south of Arrowtown at 3:15pm.

Lead Safety Investigator Colin Grounsell says the aircraft made an initial approach to land on the airstrip, but cattle were on the airstrip.

The pilot flew the plane over the airstrip in a low pass to try to clear the cattle away, before turning and approaching the airstrip again from the opposite direction.

On this second attempt to land, the plane was caught in strong crosswind and a tailwind, and did not touch down until more than half way down the airstrip.

Seconds later, the aircraft lifted briefly off the ground, turned left and stalled before crashing nose-first into a mound on the golf course.

Mr Sloan died from fatal injuries from the crash. His two passengers, reportedly an Australian-based son-in-law and Tauranga-based female flying companion, were injured but survived.

A number of eyewitnesses saw the landing attempts and the takeoff.

An investigation into the crash is going to continue, and will examine the aircraft's maintenance history, the pilot's background and his experience, the weather conditions at the airstrip and possible human factors that might have influenced the pilot's decision-making.

A final report will be provided to the Coroner after a draft report has been circulated and commented on.