Day off work was pilot's last

Neville Adlam took the day off work to fly. Photo / Supplied

"Don't worry about work ... just have a great day." Those were Denis Adlam's last words to his dad Neville shortly before Neville and another man were killed in a gyrocopter crash.

Neville Ronald Adlam, 70, was on a training flight in the home-built gyrocopter with instructor Stephen John Chubb, 51, when the aircraft plummeted to the ground in Taranaki last Thursday.

Neville Adlam worked in the Citroen workshop he owned with sons Denis and Andrew.

Denis said he had urged his dad to skip work and indulge in his passion.

"He had said the day before that if the weather was fine tomorrow he wanted to go out on the gyro and I told him he should.

"Early the next morning I followed it up with a phonecall to make sure he went out.

"He kept talking about having some parts arriving and working on a car.

"I said not to worry about it and that I could do the work. I told him to just have a great day.

"The next thing I knew of it was two police officers walking down the driveway."

He says his dad had always been a motor enthusiast.

"It started when he was a boy... his dad drove up the driveway in a 1939 Light 12 and that was it, love at first sight."

Denis said his father was a "loving husband and great dad".

"It's been quite a blow. Something has gone horribly wrong.

"It hit me this morning walking across the yard. I haven't just lost my dad, I've lost a mate."

Neville is survived by his wife, Rhonda, five children and 10 grandchildren. His first wife, Val, died aged 41.

Chubb, who was also killed in the crash, was president of the NZ Autogyro Association.

He told Dannevirke News earlier this year: "Gyrocopters are the motorbikes of the sky and onlookers sometimes think we're going to drop out of the sky and crash, but it doesn't happen too often."

One Normanby resident heard the gyrocopter flying moments before it crashed. "I was just sitting around the back doing some painting. I could hear it landing, taking off and landing again.

"Then it started sounding different and I thought 'woah you're sounding sick'. It then gave one big rev and then nothing.

"A few moments later I heard a pop, like a balloon, and I just hoped it hadn't gone down. But then I heard the sirens.

"It must have hit pretty hard ... it left a 2m crater."

The Civil Aviation Authority is investigating the crash. A spokesman said the investigation would take months. Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward.