KEY POINTS:
An aviation student had a miraculous escape when his light aircraft crashed in the remote Ureweras last night, killing his instructor.
He pulled the instructor, Aleisha O'Reilly, 21, from Tauranga, from the wreckage then battled through steep bush-covered terrain to seek help.
The Cessna 152 aircraft crashed into a remote bush gully near Ngaputahi Summit, off State Highway 38 between Murupara and Ruatahuna.
The student and pilot were from the Bay Flight International flying school in Tauranga. The company's general manager Laurence Barnett said Ms O'Reilly had been flying for four years and had logged 500 hours in the air.
"She was popular and bubbly and nothing was too much trouble," he said.
The student, 19-year-old Chris Slee from Mt Maunganui, was flown to Rotorua Hospital in the BayTrust rescue helicopter after raising the alarm about 5pm.
Mr Slee's left eye was swollen shut and he had severe grazing to the side of his face and an injured ankle.
He told the Weekend Herald he couldn't remember what had happened.
Asked if there had been mechanical problems before the crash he said, "Everything was sweet".
Mr Slee was last night being treated for the injuries to his face, arm and ankle, and a possible broken rib.
He told emergency service workers he pulled his instructor from the wreckage but was unable to do anything for her.
He went for help and reached the road, from where people in a passing car took him to Papuera Marae and helped to raise the alarm.
Two St John advanced paramedics were lowered in to the bush to check on the instructor but could do nothing for her.
"It was immediately apparent that she was deceased," said one of the paramedics, Nigel Caley.
The plane left Tauranga about 1.30pm on a two-hour flight over Whakatane and Lake Waikaremoana and was about half an hour away from landing back in Tauranga.
Mr Barnett said last night that details were still sketchy.
"It was just a normal cross-country flight that we do every day, five times a day."
A spokeswoman for the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington said the two-seater aircraft was believed to have been reported overdue.
It is not known if a mayday call was received, but emergency service workers said the alarm appeared to have been raised when Mr Slee went for help.
Inspector Donovan Clarke, from the police northern communications centre, did not know how far the student had walked but the plane went down in bush about 500m from the road.
Mr Slee would have then had to walk through bush and across a ridge to reach the road.
A guard was last night protecting the crash scene, and police are to return this morning to remove the instructor's body and investigate further.
The Civil Aviation Authority will investigate the cause of the crash.
