Pacific Aerospace delivery flight ends in tragedy

5.20pm - By MARTIN JOHNSTON

UPDATE - A New Zealand pilot died today when the plane he was delivering to the United States crashed into the sea, about 480km off the California coast.

Kelvin Stark, 58, of Tauranga, was ferrying one of the new Pacific Aerospace Corporation PAC 750XL planes, made in Hamilton, to the US. It was the first of the $1.7 million planes to be sold overseas.

He was to have left Hamilton Airport on December 19, but was delayed until Tuesday, for the delivery flight involving three stop-overs, the last in Hawaii.

He radioed for help early today and was eventually forced to ditch the plane into the Pacific Ocean. The plane apparently suffered a fuel problem, but reports vary on the cause.

His wife, April, was told of the tragedy at about 3am by a US radio operator who had been in contact with her husband and had telephoned her.

Mr Stark's brother-in-law, Mike Fletcher, said Mr Stark was alone in the plane, which had flipped in the sea after ditching.

"The Coastguard have confirmed Kelvin is still inside the aircraft but the seas are very heavy," he told the Herald earlier this afternoon.

Divers had jumped into the water from a helicopter, but had so far been unable to retrieve Mr Stark's body as the seas were too rough, Mr Fletcher said.

US reports said Air Force parajumpers found the lifeless man strapped into the cockpit of the plane after the plane went down with a frozen fuel line.

Mr Fletcher understood that Mr Stark's plane was either low on fuel or developed a fuel-transfer problem involving one of the fuel tanks inside the plane.

Mrs Stark said she hoped the plane would remain floating until the seas calmed enough for her husband's body to be removed.

"It's pretty tough. I've already been down this track before." Her first husband, who was also a pilot, died in the Convair plane crash in the Manukau Harbour in 1989.

She said Mr Stark specialised in ferry flying. "Ferry flying is a risky job. We always knew that. I'm a pilot as well so I know what's involved in it, but when it's in your blood that's what you do."

Pacific Aviation has sold 18 of its PAC 750XL planes, a short take-off and landing aircraft originally based on a topdresser.

The company says it is the first passenger plane designed and made in New Zealand and the first new aircraft built in the last 25 years specifically for the adventure parachuting market. It can lift 17 fully-kitted skydivers to 11,811 feet in 12 minutes. It is also considered suitable for other purposes, including cargo, sightseeing, medical and military uses.

Executives at the company could not be reached today, but on Monday, general manager John McWilliam said in a statement that it had delivered one of its new planes to Californian company Utility Aircraft, a Pacific Aerospace distributor, and that this was the first overseas sale of the aircraft.

The president of the Californian company, Philip Esdaile, said today that the plane that crashed was the same one referred to in the statement. It was to be used as a demonstration plane, and then be delivered to a customer who planned to use it for sky-diving.

He had been in contact with Mr Stark via radio operators before he ditched the plane and said a US Coastguard Hercules had shadowed him for several hours beforehand.

"They talked him down and they briefed him on how to ditch. They observed the ditching and it went flawlessly.... He landed in the water real slow and they said it was just a stunning piece of flying. The plane gently flipped over on its back -- and he never unbuckled his seatbelt."

Mr Stark last month flew a prototype of the plane from Hamilton to the US and back using the same route as in this week's journey. Mr Esdaile, who accompanied him part of the way on the earlier trip, said it went flawlessly.


Pacific Aerospace, Hamilton

Utility Aircraft, Woodland, California