KEY POINTS:
An experienced pilot's love of flying ended in tragedy yesterday after his light aircraft plunged into the sea, killing him and his young female passenger.
The crash happened in front of horrified helpers moments after Hassan Khayami took off from the beach with his passenger, a Finnish homestay visitor. The pair had originally left Auckland in Khayami's Smyth Sidewinder aircraft on Friday afternoon, heading for Spring Creek, near Wellsford.
But bad weather and thick sea fog saw them get lost and they landed on Pouto Beach on the north head of Kaipara Harbour. Graham Lawrence, who was fishing there, towed their plane beyond the high-tide mark and the two stayed the night on the beach in tents.
The next morning Ross Mitchell helped Khayami, 56, pull the plane on to harder sand, where Khayami said he was confident he could take off.
Mitchell and his wife Bev had gone down to the beach at 8.15am to meet them and show them a map so they could get back to the North Shore, where they were going to refuel before going on to Matakana.
Khayami was an experienced pilot and former pilot instructor in homeland Iran. But after he took off, strong winds buffeted the plane, which rose sharply to a height of 70m. And, as Khayami banked left towards Auckland, the plane dropped and nose-dived into the sea, about 20m offshore.
Mitchell said the plane did not seem to have much power as it took off. One of the plane's wings had broken off on impact, and it sank when a large wave rolled it over.
"The plane taxied along the hard sand and the engine sounded like it was running as sweet as a sewing machine. As they took off I waved to them and took photos as they went past. He went straight up and as he got up as high as the sand dunes he turned and came down in an arc.
"I could see them both through the cockpit as they came down. We were looking straight at them. I couldn't see any sign of life when we got to the plane, so I thought they had got out. The things you think of when you know it's going to crash are indescribable. The noise and then the silence was eerie."
Roy Budgen and his wife Barbara own the Light House Lodge, about 7km from the crash site, and were there all day helping to pull the plane from the water. Roy said: "There were a lot of people helping out but it was very disorganised."
Khayami's death was a shock to his son Shahin, an optometrist in Auckland. "I don't know what to do. I'm really shaken up. He was a really good pilot," he said.
Khayami's wife Afarin just left for a two-month holiday in Iran and his daughter was studying in Australia and about to sit exams.
Khayami and his family arrived in New Zealand 22 years ago. He worked as a mechanic, building a business. He built a house in Orakei in Auckland seven years ago.
Shahin said: "He was a jack of all trades. He was really good at fixing cars and building houses and things like that. He loved flying - he just flew for fun. He was just a normal guy but a great father.
"He was an outdoorsy person. But flying was his favourite thing."
Khayami sold the mechanics business a few years ago and lived off the profits and by renting houses. The family often rented out to foreigners.
The Finnish woman, in her 20s, had been in New Zealand about three months.
Marie Anderson, a tenant of Khayami, said he often offered to take people in a flight on his plane, which he bought six months ago.
Lawrence said the passenger was disturbed after the plane originally landed on the beach.
"She had a pretty nasty flight. She was a bit shaken."
The plane was pulled up the beach yesterday afternoon and the two bodies were recovered. Shahin left for Dargaville last night with a friend and his uncle also travelled there.
Despite Khayami's experience as a pilot, the Sidewinder is a difficult plane to fly.
"They are known for having quite good speed but being hard to handle at slow speed," said Bryn Lockie, engineer at Parakai Airfield.
Last night Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Bill Sommer said two investigators were travelling to the scene. "It is a home-made aircraft built from plans. It looks like he bought the plane off somebody else."
