Holiday horror as plane crashes
HOLIDAYMAKERS were stunned when a light plane crashed into the water just off a popular beach, injuring the three people on board, one of them seriously.
A 26-year-old woman was taken to Waikato Hospital in a critical condition yesterday after the light plane she was in crashed into the sea and sank shortly after takeoff from Raglan airstrip, west of Hamilton.
Holidaymakers at the neighbouring holiday park watched stunned as the white Piper Cherokee left the ground then spluttered and crashed into the harbour about 100m off shore, shortly after 1.30pm.
The plane was carrying a pilot and two passengers – the hospitalised woman, and two men, aged 23 and 46, all from Auckland.
The woman was due to be moved to a ward ‘‘in a stable condition’’ last night, Waikato DHB spokeswoman Mary Anne Gill said. The two men were both due for discharge from the hospital.
Police said it appeared the plane’s engine cut out just after takeoff and the pilot was attempting to make it back to the airstrip.
‘‘Raglan Beach was full of holidaymakers so it was fortunate the plane avoided the high-density area,’’ a spokesman said.
Dozens of families were gathered on the shore of the Raglan Harbour, next to the popular footbridge – and close to the plane’s line of flight.
Raglan Kopua Holiday Park employee Maria Puaula saw the crash while walking to work over the footbridge.
‘‘We heard a plane take off and then it started puttering out really loudly.
‘‘And then it unceremoniously jutted left,’’ said Puaula.
‘‘It hovered over the water and then it crashed into the water. And then it upended and sank.’’
Several boats and kayaks went to the scene.
Puaula said one man walked away from the rescue boat with blood on his head.
The other man had to be supported while he walked.
Holidaymaker Campbell Bryce said he saw a woman taken from the scene on a stretcher.
‘‘She looked pretty crook. They did well to get out of it.’’
The woman had to be lifted out of the boat then was flown by Westpac rescue helicopter to Waikato Hospital.
Bryce was on the deck at his Raglan bach when his son, Hunter, phoned him ‘‘in a frenzy’’.
‘‘He said ‘we’ve just seen a plane crash’. I thought he was joking.’’
Hunter, 13, was at the Raglan skatepark on his scooter when he saw the crash happen.
‘‘It was going up and then it just stopped and turned then hit the water.
‘‘I thought it was going to come into the skatepark,’’ Hunter said.
Angus Bryce, 11, was on his bike when the plane hit the water.
‘‘The engine was like, a big bang, and it kept going sideways, and then it went straight down into the water.’’
Emergency services have credited the coastguard for its rapid response.
Westpac rescue helicopter pilot Loren Haisley said all members of local rescue services should be given credit, ‘‘but particularly the Raglan Coast Guard ... all three occupants of the aircraft were rescued from the water within minutes’’.
One man was worried one of the injured could be his friend, who had planned to take his light plane to Raglan yesterday.
‘‘My mate, who’s a pilot, was meant to be coming out here today, I haven’t seen him yet.
‘‘I haven’t tried calling him yet. I’m a bit scared to,’’ the man, who did not want to be named, said.