Crash victim keen to fly again

Sam Metzger. Photo / Supplied

One of the first things Sam Metzger asked his father when he woke up was "Do you think they'll let me fly again?"

The 18-year-old trainee pilot, whose two-seater Piper Tomahawk crashed in the Ruahine Ranges on Monday leaving him and instructor Gary Skedgwell seriously injured, had to scribble the question on a whiteboard as he was on a ventilator to help him breathe and couldn't talk.

"He was writing me little notes in the middle of the night," the budding pilot's father, Nathan Metzger, said from Palmerston North Hospital last night.

"There's no reason physically why he shouldn't be able to [fly], the doctor said he won't be running marathons any time soon.

"I said to him 'Do you still want to fly? We'll support whatever decision you make'. And he gave me the thumbs up."

Mr Metzger said his son was taken off the ventilator yesterday afternoon and was able to "croak some words out".

However, he was still heavily medicated.

"He's a wee fighter, he's battling hard," his father said. "We've been having little chats with him, he repeats things quite often. He has no memory of the incident, he doesn't remember having breakfast that morning.

"He asks about Gary, asks if Gary is well."

Mr Skedgwell has had surgery on his brain and legs and is recovering in Wellington Hospital.

Sam had undergone two operations on his left leg, with a rod being inserted in his femur, and is due to have another operation today.

Mr Metzger said his son's doctors had considered amputating his leg as it was "so shattered".

Civil Aviation Authority investigators have completed a scene examination and ruled out engine failure but it may be months before they discover the cause of the crash.