KEY POINTS:
Lunchtime at Kapiti College yesterday lacked the usual raised voices, laughter and games.
Instead, the school flag hung limply at half mast as students and staff remembered Bevan Andrew Hookway, the popular senior student who was the pilot of the Cessna which collided with a helicopter in Sunday's mid-air disaster.
Hookway, 17, was pulled alive from the wreckage of his plane. Despite the efforts of his rescuers and doctors, he died from his injuries several hours later in Wellington Hospital.
The two men aboard the helicopter, Dave Fielding, 30, from Palmerston North, and James David Taylor, 19, from Nelson Lakes, were killed instantly.
School staff said students were struggling to cope with Hookway's sudden and very public death. Friends would start to laugh as they remembered funny stories about Bevan, but the mirth would subside awkwardly.
Kapiti College principal Tony Kane said pupils at the school were very close-knit, many having known each other since starting at the primary school just across the fence.
"A lot of these kids have known each other since kindergarten, so this is very tough for them," said Mr Kane, who taught Hookway for many years.
"He was a very quiet chap when he arrived here, but he became more and more confident. He was a lovely chap, a really nice bright boy who enjoyed life."
Hookway was a keen mountain biker, but flying was his passion.
For years Hookway had nursed the dream of becoming an air force pilot. But unlike many children with such lofty ambitions, he was working to realise that goal. He held down several school jobs to pay for his flying lessons at Kapiti Aero Club and was taking correspondence studies in aviation through Kapiti College.
Friends said while Hookway had a vibrant sense of humour, he was regarded as careful and considered.
Counsellors were working with students and staff yesterday. A special message was read to each class at first period about what had happened and the school, in consultation with the Hookway family, was discussing how best to remember Bevan.
"It's important that we try to be as normal as possible because that also helps our kids through it," Mr Kane said.
"You get on with the job, you get on with business knowing that it's not easy, but also knowing if you have to suddenly go and leave class and sit with somebody - friends or family - then you can do that." Bevan Hookway's elder sister had also been to Kapiti College, and rushed back from army training at Burnham to join her family. Mr Kane visited the Hookways yesterday and said the family was being remarkably strong.
"I know what it is like for us: I've got no idea how much tougher it is for them ... how would you know unless you had a kid that has died?"
Air crash investigators yesterday recovered wreckage from the collision and collected statements from witnesses.
Transport Accident Investigation Commission investigator Ian McClelland said the fact two of the three dead were teenage pilots did not mean they were inexperienced or unskilled flyers.
"A pilot must attain a reasonable standard, a good standard, a safe standard before they are sent solo," Mr McClelland said.
"I myself soloed when I was 16, and it is quite common for young pilots to solo at a very early stage.
"It's the competency that counts, not the age," he said.
