KEY POINTS:
The fate of missing aircraft engineer Noel Marsh came down to a draw from a hat.
The 35-year-old Christchurch father put his name forward to take part in maintenance testing of an Air New Zealand A320 Airbus before being returned after a two-year lease to a German company.
His father Bill Marsh now wishes his son's name hadn't been pulled from the hat.
"He was one of many who put their names forward," Bill told One News last night.
"Noel's a very, very dedicated employee. He's very serious about everything he does.
"He saw this as a real challenge and an opportunity."
Noel Marsh flew his pregnant wife Tracey to France for a holiday earlier this month.
She returned a fortnight ago to the couple's two young sons, Leon and Ryan, aged 3 and 5.
Marsh had been expected to follow his wife back home.
"Unfortunately, he made the decision to go," Bill Marsh told One News. "There were others who could have gone but for their sake I'm grateful they didn't, and I'm just so sad Noel made that decision."
Noel's parents and sister last night flew to France as hope of finding any more bodies, let alone survivors, started to fade.
A last photograph of the close-knit family will make the long journey across the other side of the world with Bill Marsh.
Tracey and the couple's two sons were last night being comforted by her parents Sue and Andy Frey, of Henderson, who flew to Christchurch yesterday to be with the family.
"We are clutching at straws that perhaps he's still out there... and once it's confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt then I guess the family will accept that Noel's not coming home," Bill Marsh said.
Plans to shift Bill and his wife into a new house behind Noel and Tracey's this weekend were put on hold. "He was just the greatest man you can ever hope to meet," Bill Marsh said.
A close friend of the family said Marsh had been looking forward to becoming a father for the third time.
She described Tracy as a "remarkable woman" who lived for her boys and was "in love" with her husband of about 12 years.
