The court heard Stace Hopper was about to return to the Northshore Aeroclub and was carrying out preflight checks when colleague and friend Simon Kirkpatrick noticed one of the company's water tankers being driven on to the roughly constructed runway.
Mr Kirkpatrick stopped the truck and parked his red van, with his son in the front seat, on the side of the strip. Stace Hopper rolled down the runway, took off but was flying unusually low. As the plane approached the van Stace went into a righthand banking manoeuvre.
"The plane lost all lift and fell. It hit the van," Mr Kirkpatrick said.
Mr Kirkpatrick and his son were covered with shattered glass from the windscreen. He got the water tanker and with the help of the tanker driver and Mr Hopper's younger brother, Gray, doused the flames. They pulled off a panel and found Stace dead.
His father Leigh Hopper said he had no qualms with the report completed by the Civil Aviation Authority into the crash.
Mr Hopper said his children had grown up around aircraft. He said the family had lived a fast life and had competed in plenty of speed-related sports.
He described his eldest son as "exuberant".
"He achieved at everything he did. He was even called to Australia to do jetski demonstrations. He got into flying at an early age and was into motorsport. That exuberance clearly led him to undertake a manoeuvre to be what I consider a high speed take off. We will always be at a loss as to why he failed to leave enough margin for error."
The coroner found no mechanical faults contributed to the crash and a toxicology report showed no signs of drugs or alcohol in his blood.
"He was a very talented man and gifted at many things and was the heir apparent to a family business. In some ways he was a victim of his own abilities.
"He was extremely competent at rally driving, jet skiing and flying.
"With that sort of ability he made a decision on that day to do a low-flying manoeuvre that didn't go to plan," Mr Shortland said. "It was pilot error."
