KEY POINTS:
The sole surviving member of a family killed when their light plane hit high-tension wires in the Marlborough Sounds is "baffled" the lines have still not been fitted with markers to warn other pilots.
Cindy Mosey was 11 when the Cessna 402 in which she was a passenger hit wires above Tory Channel and plunged into the sea.
Mosey lost her parents, Paul and Julie, and sisters Karla, 13 and Aleisha, 7. In all, eight people died in the 1985 crash, including pilot Roger Phipps, and passengers Richard and Dianne Grayson and their daughter Kirsty, 11.
Twenty-three years on, Mosey, the only survivor, is happily married and a mum for the first time.
In a rare interview, she told the Herald on Sunday that after the crash she drew on the strength of her extended family, and her love of gymnastics and windsurfing.
She went on to become a world women's international kite-surfing champion.
"I have many fantastic friends and extended family who have given me a huge amount of support over the years. I feel I had the best possible childhood anyone could ever have."
Mosey, now 34, lives in Nelson with husband Andy and 7-month-old baby son Baxter.
She has not forgotten the past. "It's just one of those things, you can't spend all your life looking back really. I will never forget my family.
"It is not deeply painful any more, but of course you miss them, especially after having a baby."
The high-tension wires above Tory Channel are among those labelled the "20 worst spans" in New Zealand by the Civil Aviation Authority. So far, only six of the 20 spans have been marked with coloured marker balls.
The Tory Channel span, together with two other Marlborough Sounds spans in French Pass and Elaine Bay, have had engineering studies completed but no progress has been made on installing markers, a situation that baffles Mosey.
"I would have thought with the amount of accidents and the lives lost in New Zealand over the years perhaps they would have marked the wires. I can see why they should, especially if there's a new technology out that it should be used. I guess it baffles me more than anything.
"Without wires being marked I think that it is only a matter of time before another tragedy such as this magnitude will happen again... and as someone who has experienced this you have to hope that it never occurs again."
The CAA is now looking at introducing the Norwegian Obstacle Collision Avoidance System (OCAS).
It would see some power lines fitted with a low power signal to detect an approaching aircraft. Strobe lights would be activated to warn the approaching pilot.
If the pilot cannot avoid a collision, OCAS activates a transmission on all radio frequencies warning other pilots a plane is about to crash.
The CAA has yet to decide whether to install the system - and where.
