By GREGG WYCHERLEY
A 28-year-old pilot was killed yesterday when his topdressing plane crashed into trees on a farm near Thames.
Debris from the plane was scattered in a trail of gouged earth behind the upturned wreckage of the plane.
Smashed branches marked the point where the plane's wing hit a row
of trees, before catapulting through the paddock, coming to rest 300m away.
The pilot, a Thames man, was spraying pasture at Orongo, 8km south of Thames, when the accident happened about 2.45pm, said Sergeant Brian Gilmore, of Paeroa police.
The farmer whose land the plane was spraying was first to the accident scene and alerted emergency services. He was too traumatised to talk about the accident last night.
Mike Keen, the managing director of Hamilton firm Super Air, said the pilot had worked for the company for about five years. He had started soon after finishing training as an agricultural pilot.
"He was a local Thames lad from a long way back, well respected in the company and noted for his safe flying," he said.
"At this stage there's no information available about the cause of the accident, CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] will be there to carry out the investigation."
The dead man was single. His father was also a pilot.
"His father flew in the area for a long number of years. They're pretty devastated and our fellow pilots and colleagues are all pretty shocked and saddened by the news."
CAA inspectors will examine the scene today.
