Tourists die in mountain plane crash

Australian home loan pioneer Bernie Lewis and his wife Christine

Three people, including a prominent Australian financier, are dead after a charter plane from Auckland crashed into a mountain near Taupo yesterday - the third fatal plane crash in three weeks.

The accident involved a twin-engined Piper Seneca from the Auckland charter flight company Christian Aviation.

The plane crashed into the bush-clad northern slopes of Mt Tauhara, 8km east of Taupo, around midday, when many parts of the North Island were under low cloud.

The bodies of the male pilot and his two passengers were found at the scene.

The passengers have been identified as Bernie Lewis, 66, and his wife, Christine.

Mr Lewis, 66,was a prominent Adelaide businessman who operated Bernie Lewis Home Loans.

Speaking from Adelaide last night, Mr Lewis' 38-year-old son Mark said his parents had flown to New Zealand on Tuesday for a holiday.

He did not know the exact details of the itinerary but he understood the couple were going to the Bay of Islands for lunch and then they were going to Taupo before heading to Rotorua.

Pilot Dan Harcourt, from the Taupo rescue helicopter, said the plane was believed to be carrying out a prescribed instrument approach to Taupo airport's runway 17 when it went wide and hit the mountain at approximately 3200ft.

The New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre said the weather conditions were not good at the time but a search was launched as soon as the distress beacon was activated at 12.28pm.

Mr Harcourt said the helicopter found the plane wreckage at 1.15pm, two thirds up Mt Tauhara, which is 1088m high.

An advanced paramedic and member of the police search and rescue team were lowered into the crash site.

After confirming there were no survivors police used the helicopter to fly in rescue workers, equipment and a police photographer.

Yesterday's crash was the third in three weeks and brought the number of people killed in light aircraft crashes this year to six. A seventh was killed in a glider accident on January 12.

Investigators from the Transport Accident Investigation Commission were expected to start an investigation of the crash today.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Bill Sommer said the charter company Christian Aviation flew right across the country and knew what they were doing.

"They are not new kids on the block," he said.

"They are top notch and they know their stuff."

The company's website describes Christian Aviation as an air charter service, which carried out corporate charters, scenic and tourism flights, courier, freight and air ambulance services 24 hours. Its Piper Seneca carried four passengers.

When the Herald contacted the company yesterday, a staff member said that the chief executive was unavailable for comment.

Mark Lewis said a funeral would be held in the next few weeks for his parents, who were due to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary in March.

Their daughter Vanessa Willams is also expected to fly to New Zealand in the next few days.

Mark Lewis said Bernie Lewis Home Loans, which employs 70 people, would ontinue to run as normal - just as his father would have wanted.

"The business is bigger than the man, so it's business as usual," he said.

Mr Lewis said his parents loved to travel.

"They loved to travel, three or four times a year they would do overseas trips. They were the most fantastic people."

He described his father as the most positive person he had ever met.

- additional reporting NZPA, AAP