Family mourns dad presumed dead

A West Coast family and community are mourning the loss of their ‘‘action man’’, presumed dead after crashing his light plane in the Southern Alps.

Well-known West Coast man Tim Gibb crashed his light plane near Mt Nicholson on Thursday.

Gibb left Franz Josef about 9am on Thursday, destined for Rangiora. No-one else was in the plane. The downed plane was found by a rescue helicopter on Thursday afternoon, but plans to get to the plane were put on hold because of bad weather.

His daughter, Sarah Gibb, was on a boat in Makarska, Croatia, when she heard her dad was in the crash and tried for three days to get flights home after receiving the news of her father’s death. The 27-year-old finally found some flights through India.

Tim Gibb earned plaudits for bringing in equipment to ferry cars and people across the Waiho River when the bridge was washed away in 2019. He ferried up to 30 cars and 100 people a day using a 38-tonne dump truck.

Sarah Gibb described her dad as humble, hardworking, patient and kind. ‘‘[He was] the greatest role model a child could ask for. I am so grateful and lucky that I got to call [him] my father and I will always cherish the years we had.’’

Gibb’s younger daughter, Olivia, 26, said the family were ‘‘broken’’. Her dad was always helping people. When a hotel in Franz Josef flooded he helped with the rescue and co-ordinated evacuation of the residents and guests before the river burst its banks.

‘‘He was a doer, the action man in any Civil Defence situation and was and has been the main go-to person in the town of Franz Josef. He has left a large hole in the community.

‘‘He absolutely loved flying – that was his happy place.’’

A police spokesperson said they were working with Department of Conservation’s Aoraki/Mt Cook Alpine Rescue Team to recover the light plane.