Victim's girlfriend spared sight of crash

Witnesses reported the plane flew steeply upwards before it crashed. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The inquest into the Fox Glacier air disaster has heard how a Skydive NZ staff member grabbed the girlfriend of one of the victims of the fiery crash and spun her around to spare her the sight of the plane smashing into the ground.

Four overseas tourists and five Skydive NZ staff members died when the modified top-dressing plane smashed to the ground and was engulfed in a fireball moments after take-off from the Fox Glacier airstrip on September 4, 2010.

Oliver Mason had been with Skydive NZ for only a week and was watching the take-off with Dean Thomas, Greg Rowan and the girlfriend of divemaster Mike Suter.

Initially, things looked normal but it soon became obvious the plane was in trouble, he told the inquest in Greymouth yesterday.

"Greg was saying 'come on ... come on', like he was willing the plane to fly." Mr Mason described the noise of the fatal plunge as "like a kamikaze plane in the old war movies".

"Deano grabbed Mike Suter's girlfriend and spun her around so she would not see the plane hit the ground."

Mr Mason grabbed a fire extinguisher from the hangar and raced to the crash site at the end of the airstrip, but there was little he could do.

Mr Mason said he offered to give a statement to a police officer a couple of days after the crash but was dissuaded because the officer did not believe he had anything new to add.

However, his recall, which he documented with notes and a diagram the following day, differed from most other witnesses.

He said the plane had climbed much more quickly than normal, prompting him to comment "shit, that plane gets off the ground quick", but it levelled off and made a controlled turn before heading back towards the airstrip. He assumed it was coming back because a camera or goggles had been forgotten. Soon he and his companions realised the plane was in trouble, prompting the "come on" urgings from Mr Rowan.

Mr Mason said he later tried to give his notes and diagrams to an air accident investigator but his offer was rebuffed, making him "bloody angry" because he did not believe that the investigators were getting the full picture.

"It's like a video that keeps playing in your head. It doesn't change - that picture is always there."

David Baldwin, a pilot with more than 4000 hours' experience, had flown to Fox Glacier to carry out medical checks on pilots.

He said the plane flew directly upward "like the space shuttle", did a stall turn to the left and a sharp descent. The pilot managed to pull it out of the dive and it flew, wings level, for about five seconds before tipping to the left and into the ground.

As soon as it crashed he phoned police saying, "there has been a fatal plane crash at Fox Glacier, we need urgent help".

"I didn't feel that it was an aircraft out of control. I thought it was hi-jinx from a top dressing pilot."

Dr Baldwin said he then got the impression that the pilot was desperately trying to get back to the airstrip.

Killed in the crash were Patrick Byrne, 26, of Ireland; Glenn Bourke, 18, of Australia; Annita Kirsten, 23, of Germany; Brad Coker, 24, of England; skydive masters Adam Bennett, 47, Michael Suter, 32, Christopher McDonald, 62, Rod Miller, 55, of Greymouth; and the pilot Chaminda Senadhira, 33, of Queenstown.

- Greymouth Star