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Dead woman almost didn't fly
26 November 2006
By NATALIE AKOORIE and NZPA
The woman passenger killed when a light plane crashed into Northland's Kaipara Harbour yesterday morning had nearly hitchhiked back to Auckland instead of taking the fatal flight.
"But she decided at the last minute to stay with her pilot friend and fly out with him," said Kaipara pensioner Ross Mitchell, who witnessed the crash.
"She was a tourist and he was based in Auckland. It was so unbelievable. We sat there and looked at each other and thought 'what do we do now'."
Ross and wife Bev watched in horror as the plane plunged into the sea minutes after they helped the pair prepare for takeoff.
"He climbed up fairly quickly at a fairly steep angle then he banked to the left and turned towards South Head ... and then it dived straight into the sea," Ross said.
"It was almost as if the controls were set to go straight into the sea because the engine was still running at full revs when it hit the water."
The shaken couple dialled 111.
"I had the bloody shakes. I knew there would be no survivors."
He said the plane had landed on the beach near Poutu Point about 8pm on Friday.
"The weather was closing in and they were lost. They'd been trying to get to Spring Creek in Matakana.
"A local fisherman helped get the plane away from the water and they decided to camp for the night. The girl almost decided to catch a lift with the fisherman back to Dargaville. From there she was going to hitch back to Auckland.
"The fisherman spoke to our son and he asked us to go down and help them in the morning. So we did."
AdvertisementAdvertisementRoss helped the pilot push the plane back to solid sand so they could take off. They were going to return to Auckland's North Shore for fuel before making a second attempt to get to Spring Creek.
"I showed them on the map where they were because they were lost," Ross said.
"They got into flying suits, we said our goodbyes and they thanked me. They were as happy as Larry."
Their bodies and wreckage were recovered after an emergency operation involving the Coastguard, Westpac rescue helicopter, fire crews and police search and rescue teams.
The pilot was today named as 56-year-old Auckland company director Hassan Khayami. His passenger is yet to be named but believed to be a Finnish homestay visitor.
Mr Khayami, who originally came from Iran, was an experienced pilot.
Mr Khayami and his family arrived in New Zealand 22 years ago. He worked as a mechanic, building a business. He built a house in Orakei in Auckland seven years ago.
The Finnish woman, in her 20s, had been in New Zealand about three months.
Fire Service northern communications spokesman Jaron Phillips earlier told NZPA the plane had been secured on shore.
Coastguard spokesman Chris Fransham said it wasn't an easy salvage, given the plane came to rest three metres underwater.
"Towing it up on the beach was quite difficult," he said.
"They ended up using a number of surf IRBs (inflatable rescue boats) to tow it up."
The Civil Aviation Authority yesterday began investgating the crash and spokesman Bill Sommer said eye witness accounts could be crucial in deciding what happened
