Pilot 'one of the gems' of aviation

He was a devoutly religious father of two young children who was described as "one of the gems" of the aviation industry.

But on Wednesday, after Steven Brown took off for a charter flight from Ardmore Airport in Manukau City, as he had done numerous times before, his plane slammed into the side of mountain, 8km from Taupo.

The 36-year-old from Kohimarama and his two passengers, Australian home-loan pioneer Bernie Lewis and his wife Christine, were killed instantly.

People who knew Mr Brown said that the "calm and cool-headed" pilot had two primary school-aged children and that his family attended the Christian Life Centre in Mt Eden.

He had attended Papatoetoe High School, was well liked and was good at sport, particularly tennis.

In more recent times he had focused on his work with Christian Aviation, which he part-owned with his father, David. Iain Ballantyne from Air National said he believed Mr Brown was about to finish his master of business administration degree.

"He was one of the gems of the industry," he said.

"He was very obliging and just a wonderful, wonderful person."

Yesterday, as the bodies of those killed in the crash were airlifted from Mt Tauhara, and people who knew Mr Brown spoke about him, the son of the Adelaide couple, Mark Lewis, spoke about how he had warned his parents before the crash not to fly.

"I said to them if you are getting into a little plane and the weather is not good, don't do it, for God's sake."

The couple, whom Mr Lewis described as "one of the happiest that you would have been likely to meet", were soon to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary and were in New Zealand on holiday.

At the time of Wednesday's crash, Mr Brown was flying the high-profile Lewis couple on a charter scenic flight to the Bay of Islands, then back to Taupo.

As he flew his twin-engined Piper Seneca towards Taupo, around midday, he was speaking with Christchurch Air Traffic Control. There was no indication that anything was wrong.

But at 12.28pm, in low-lying cloud and in poor weather, he crashed into Mt Tauhara. At the time he was using instruments to navigate his way.

Emergency services picked up a distress beacon from his plane and found its wreckage at 1.15pm, two-thirds of the way up the mountain.

Investigations into how the crash occurred and moves to examine the wreckage began yesterday.

The business and sporting community of Adelaide was in shock yesterday over the death of Mr Lewis.

In 1987, he formed his home loans company, South Australia's largest independently owned mortgage broker. His talents also led him to become chairman of SA Great and the Adelaide 36ers.

He presided over the club's NBL championships in 1998, 1999 and 2002. His term finished in 2003.

Brenton Higgins, who was Mr Lewis' hand-picked successor as the 36ers' chairman, said: "What he has done for the club and the league ... I'm just devastated."

Basketball Association of SA chief executive Phillip Sanders said Mr Lewis was a gregarious person who cared about the players.

Mr Lewis served on Adelaide City Council from 1989 to 1993 and was remembered as an innovative and decisive man.

A source close to Christian Aviation said everyone involved with the company was devastated by the accident.

The man, who did not want to be named, said there appeared to be a patch of "abysmal" weather near Taupo at the time of the crash, including windshear and thunderstorms, which disappeared as fast as it arrived.