Two men have been confirmed dead after their bodies were found in the wreckage of a plane in the Tararua Ranges today.
The plane failed to land at Paraparaumu last night after taking off from Foxpine Airstrip, near Foxton at 3.16pm yesterday. Emergency services were called in around 8pm after it failed to touch down at Kāpiti Coast Airport.
The wreckage was located around 7.30am today.
Police had been working with RCCNZ and LandSAR to locate the plane since last night.
Rescue Coordination Centre search and rescue mission coordinator Dave Wilson said the light plane wreckage was found 270 metres from the last detected radar signal, high in the mountains of the Tararua Range.
Emergency services were called about 8pm yesterday after it failed to touch down at Kāpiti Coast Airport.
“It would still have been very challenging given the weather conditions and also the terrain they were searching in,” he said.
“The helicopter had to hover overhead and they winched the search and rescue squad down into the location through that terrain to get to the wreckage of the aircraft.”
He said the terrain was covered in forest, with steep and narrow gullies.
“Certainly in the weather conditions it was an extraordinary effort.”
Mr Wilson said the wreckage has not been removed but police and the air force recovered the bodies of the two men.
A man associated with Foxpine Airstrip, who did not want to be named, said one of the pair was a very experienced pilot and the other man was a trainee pilot who was close to becoming qualified.
The Civil Aviation Authority will investigate the crash.
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