Woman hit by husband's microlight

An Otago woman suffered serious head injuries yesterday when a microlight plane being piloted by her husband hit her while taking off from the couple's farm.

The wing of the plane hit the 50-year-old woman in the head as she watched her 53-year-old husband take off at about 5.30pm from their private airstrip at Waitati, 14km north of Dunedin, duty Senior Sergeant Brian Benn of Dunedin police said.

"She was flown to Dunedin Hospital by rescue helicopter," he said.

Civil Aviation Authority investigators would determine the cause of the accident.

- NZPA