Couples visiting NZ relatives die in air crash

By STAFF REPORTER and NZPA

Four tourists killed when their sightseeing plane hit a mountain in Fiordland were couples visiting relatives who had emigrated to New Zealand.

Six people died when the Cessna 207 crashed into a rock face on the Gertrude Saddle in Hollyford Valley, 11km from Milford Sound, on Saturday morning.

Gordon Ross, aged 34, and Angela Ross, 29, from Shandwick, Tain, Scotland, had been visiting her family on the West Coast.

The other couple were George and Marilynn Hunter, aged in their mid-60s, from Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada.

Constable Fraser Jackson of Te Anau said Mr and Mrs Hunter had been visiting their daughter, who lives in Napier.

Invercargill student Wayde Leslie Clark, 21, was also a passenger on the flight with the pilot, Andrew David Robins, 25, of Queenstown.

Both men were from Christchurch but had been living and working in the area.

The Cessna, operated by Air Fiordland, took off in fine weather from Te Anau on a scenic flight to Milford Sound.

Transport Accident Investigation Commission inspector Ken Matthews was at the crash scene yesterday to try to piece together the cause of the accident.

Mr Matthews told the Herald the plane's engine was operating when the aircraft hit the mountain.

The right wing clipped the rock and the plane lay 35m from the point of impact. The engine had broken away from its mount and careered 100m past the wreckage, dropped over a sheer cliff and is sitting in 3-4m of water in a lake.

Mr Matthews said early indications suggested there was "quite a bit of energy in the aircraft at the time of the impact".

He will look at weather conditions, talk to other pilots flying in the area at the time, and look at Mr Robins' pilot history.

Air Fiordland chief executive Russell Baker said yesterday that Mr Robins was experienced and highly skilled.

He had worked for the Te Anau-based scenic flight company for four months and had previously worked as a commercial pilot in Alaska.

According to its website, Air Fiordland was formed in 1984 to offer visitors the opportunity to "view the scenic wonders of Fiordland and Milford Sound from the air".

It has 10 Cessna aircraft and its pilots have additional specialist training in mountain flying.

The Milford Sound trip, one of the packages offered by Air Fiordland, is pitched at people short of time and takes 70 minutes.

Mr Baker said his company made about 3000 flights a year.

He estimated that annually a total of 80,000 to 100,000 passengers flew over Fiordland with companies operating in the area.

He did not believe the tragedy would have an effect on tourism in the area and said 26 people were booked with the company today.

"These sort of things do affect tourism, but I think in the light of it being an accident, as opposed to something that has happened through a bad culture or bad weather, people perceive it considerably differently."

The accident came just a day after the Civil Aviation Authority released statistics showing fewer people died in air crashes last year than in previous years.

Twelve people, only one a fare-paying passenger, died in eight crashes last year, compared with 25 deaths in 10 accidents the previous year.

The weekend crash came less than two years after a helicopter crash in the same region claimed five lives.

On March 28, 2000, four American tourists died when the Fiordland Helicopters plane they were in hit power lines.

They died along with pilot Janey Blair, 28, who was flying the Hughes 530F when it crashed at Lake Manapouri, near the Manapouri power station, 190km northwest of Invercargill.

And in April 1999, five people died after a Cessna floatplane crashed into the southeastern side of Mt Suter, to the north of Lake Te Anau near Lake Erskine.

Also that month, five people were killed when a South West Helicopters Squirrel helicopter crashed near Tuatapere, about 120km southwest of Milford Sound.

In August 1998, a Cessna 402 with 10 people on board crashed in Foveaux Strait on a flight from Stewart Island to Invercargill airport.

Four passengers and the pilot drowned in the freezing waters, but five passengers were rescued.