Flyby for pals ends in tragedy

Wreckage of the plane near the van it struck. Photo / Kerri Vernon

The heir to a multimillion dollar property empire died in a plane crash in Northland last year as he was attempting to do a risky "flyby" for people watching him, the Civil Aviation Authority believes.

The CAA has released its final report into the crash that killed Stace Hopper, 27, project manager for the Marsden Cove development, near the site on March 12 last year.

Hopper's Cessna hit a van at the end of the runway. The van contained friends who were watching him but no one else was hurt.

However, the dead man's father, Hopper Developments chief executive Leigh Hopper, says high winds were the prime cause of the crash and he was not sure how pertinent the CAA's comments were on "at-risk" behaviour.

The report says the predominant cause of the accident appeared to have been a conscious decision by Hopper to operate the aircraft in an unsafe manner, leading to an error or a series of errors.

Hopper was alone and was flying back to Auckland's North Shore. The aircraft flew parallel with the ground after takeoff and was seen to build up speed.

The aircraft followed the airstrip, close to the ground. When it was near to the van parked 180m from the end of the airstrip, it "pulled up and banked".

The right wing-tip struck the bonnet, windscreen and driver's-side roof pillar of the van.

The plane crashed 50m beyond the van in a paddock and was consumed by fire.


"The flightpath of the aircraft suggests there was a conscious and deliberate decision by the pilot not to follow the normal climb profile after takeoff and to fly towards the van at low level," the report said.

"As the occupants of the van were known to the pilot, it is reasonable to believe that the pilot may have flown the aircraft towards the van at low level, in order to perform a low pass or 'fly by' over the van."


It found the collision was probably caused by the pilot misjudging his clearance from the van due to the combination of "blossom effect" and the lowering of the right wing in the banked turn.

Blossom effect is a visual illusion which, in aviation terms, causes misinterpretation of rate of closure between the pilot of an aircraft and another aircraft, or object.

The report noted that Hopper had a number of traffic infringements and at one stage lost his driver's licence for three months.

CAA said publication of its report would serve to highlight possible consequences of "at-risk behaviour" in aviation.

But Leigh Hopper said his son had been a typical teenager with a usual level of exuberance. "We remain very proud of his accomplishments and, as you can imagine, we miss him dearly."

He said it appeared high winds were more likely the cause of the crash, despite what the CAA report said.

"It was a very blustery day, even his mother in conversation earlier that day questioned the appropriateness of him flying in such conditions. Clearly he had not allowed sufficient tolerance for mechanical turbulence," Leigh Hopper said.

"I am not aware of any of Stace's fines being for excessive speed or recklessness, in fact he lost his licence over an illegal low speed manoeuvre 11 years ago. Any correlation between prior traffic offences and an 'at risk' pilot is rather tenuous."

Hopper is the company responsible for huge residential coastal developments around the Coromandel Peninsula.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE