Grandfather and grandson die in light plane crash

A Tauranga man and his teenage grandson were killed yesterday afternoon when their homebuilt airplane crashed into the sea near Mt Maunganui.

Robert Lindsay Dunlop, 73, and Alan Hayden Dunlop, 18, of Morrinsville, were in the two-seat Zenith Zenair RV4 plane when it came down near Matakana Island about 11am.

People in nearby boats saw the single wing plane crash and retrieved the bodies before emergency services arrived.

A 24-year-old woman who dived into the sea from one of the pleasure boats at the scene is in moderate condition in Tauranga hospital after ingesting seawater and aviation fuel.

Police divers and rescue coastguard searched the water to make sure no one else was on board.

The plane crashed in 9m of water, to seaward of Matakana Island, about 4kms from Mt Maunganui.

Yesterday's crash follows two other light plane crashes in the past two weeks.

Two men died on Christmas Day when their microlight aircraft crashed into a paddock on the Hauraki Plains.

Two weeks ago a man and his two children were killed when their Piper Chieftain crashed near Fielding.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Bill Sommer said it was not uncommon to have more accidents during summer, just like road accidents, as more planes took to the sky.

The Authority had not noticed any more crashes than in previous years but had issued safety reminders to pilots and clubs prior to the holiday season.

The CAA were still awaiting full details of yesterday's crash and would decide whether to investigate refer the matter to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission.

The bodies were transferred to a Tauranga Coast Guard boat and taken to Tauranga for post-mortem examinations.

- HERALD STAFF