Name released of plane crash victim
THE Dunedin man who died in a plane crash near Middlemarch on Sunday was Murray Barrington (73), of Brighton.
The cause of the crash was still under investigation, police said last night.
Civil Aviation Authority investigators arrived at the site yesterday afternoon, at Welshman’s Creek, northeast of Middlemarch.
The RANS S19 Venterra air craft crashed killing Mr Barrington and injuring a Mosgiel man.
The pair had taken off from Taieri airfield at 10.30am.
The plane was due in Omarama at 11.45am. A search was launched after it was reported overdue at 2pm.
In 2015, Mr Barrington, the former owner of Freedom Wigs, gave $60,000 to the Otago Aero Club to restore its historic main hangar, which was built in 1936.
At the time, Mr Barrington had recently completed building his own microlight plane.
Aero club president Colin Chalmers said he visited the injured man yesterday after his surgery. ‘‘He’s quite good,’’ he said. Mr Barrington and his flying companion were good friends, he said.