Weather could have led to mountain crash

Investigators can only suggest that low sun or cloud caused James Beggs to crash his plane in rugged bush near Gisborne seven years ago.

Mr Beggs disappeared in May 1995, and his body was found, still strapped into the wreck of his Piper Cherokee aircraft in Te Urewera National Park, last April.

The wreckage was in the Huiarau Range near the eastern boundary of the park, about 80km inland from Gisborne.

On May 21, 1995, 19-year-old Mr Beggs, a second-year Bachelor of Aviation student at Massey University, was flying the plane from Gisborne to Palmerston North via Napier.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission said in a report issued yesterday that its examination of the wreckage revealed nothing as to why Mr Beggs deviated from what should have been a mostly coastal flight path.

The report said there was no evidence that either Mr Beggs was incapacitated or the plane unable to operate normally.

It summarised that the plane was probably in controlled flight when it crashed into sub-alpine beech forest.

The only possible explanation for the crash was that "the pilot's view of the mountainside ahead may have been compromised by the low sun or by local cloud".

One witness who saw the plane manoeuvring near the accident scene on the day of the crash said the weather was fine and clear at the time, although the report said local cloud over the accident site may have obscured the mountainside.

Mr Beggs would have been flying into late afternoon sun, which "could have made the shaded, tree-clad mountainside ahead difficult ... to discern".

"The pilot's low experience would not have prepared him for flying in mountainous terrain in conditions of difficult lighting, so he may have been unaware of the sort of hazard presented."

Comparing the last witnessed direction of the plane with the site wreckage, the report said Mr Beggs might have tried to turn away just before crashing.

- NZPA