Pilot's father helped find body

The father of the pilot killed when his Cessna plane crashed southwest of Te Kuiti on Tuesday night was one of the searchers who located his body yesterday.

New Plymouth man Ben Gaastra, 28, was flying solo from Auckland's North Shore to New Plymouth when his Cessna 152 crashed into dense bush on a very steep hill, 41km west of Te Kuiti in the King Country.

A search operation was launched about 7.30pm after the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand detected an emergency beacon.

Two Air Force Iroquois helicopters helped with the search, along with a private helicopter and a fixed wing aircraft.

Wreckage was spotted from the air yesterday morning and Mr Gaastra's body was found about 10.40am.

Ben's father, Harry Gaastra, who is a member of the Taranaki Alpine Cliff Rescue team, was on board the Air Force Iroquois that spotted the plane's debris.

"We knew when the police called (on Tuesday) night that the chances were we had lost our son ... but instead of hanging around waiting, I was involved," Harry Gaastra told the Dominion Post.

He was a metre behind the first searcher to locate his son's body.

He said the plane appeared to have clipped trees on the top of a ridge and then broken up, with wreckage strewn through the trees.

Ben, who would have turned 29 on Sunday, had recently graduated from Massey University's Aviation School with a commercial pilot's licence and was intending to sit his instructor's test next week.

His father said the family had often spoken about the possibility of an accident.

"He knew the risks but he played them down," he said.

"We knew that one day we might get a knock at the door."

Ben's mother, Sandra Gaastra told the Taranaki Daily News the family was devastated by his death.

"We've got two girls getting married this year, those weddings are going to be bittersweet, I'm afraid," she said.

"We realised that the chances (of Ben's survival) were next to nothing. We had hoped for a miracle, it would have only been a miracle that saved him.

"We know we will see him again."

The crash was being investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority and Mr Gaastra's death had been referred to the coroner.

- NZPA