Taupo plane engine sent to Canada for analysis

Part of the skydiving plane is pulled from Lake Taupo. Photo / Alan Gibson

The engine of a skydiving plane, which is suspected to have failed over Lake Taupo, will be sent to Canada this week for analysis.

All six skydivers, their six instructors and the pilot of Skydive Taupo's Pacific Aerospace 750XL had to abandon the aircraft at 2000ft before it crashed in to the lake near Rotongaio Bay last Wednesday.

A helicopter lifted three large pieces of the wreckage out of Lake Taupo on Friday and flew them to shore. A barge was used to lift the engine from the water along with bags of smaller pieces of wreckage.

The engine was being prepared and packaged to be freighted to its manufacturer Canada later this week, Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) spokesman Peter Northcote said.

There it would be stripped down and examined under the supervision of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

"We would expect to get an indication of likely turnaround time once the engine reaches its destination," Mr Northcote said.

Details of the findings of the inspection would not be released until a formal report was released by the commission, he said. That report could take up to 18 months to complete.

The aircraft's engine data recorder was also recovered. However, it will not be known whether any useful information survived the crash until it is examined by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's laboratory.

Skydive Taupo director Roy Clements said the pilot who was flying at the time of the crash was originally due back to work on Monday, but did not start until today.

The crash occurred on the pilot's first day of flying solo and he wasn't expected to immediately return to the skies, he said.