KEY POINTS:
Two people died in a light plane crash at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base at Whenuapai today.
Eyewitnesses said the aircraft nose-dived and ploughed into the ground. The base is used by aero clubs.
Inspector Turepu Keenan said both occupants of the Cessna aircraft were killed.
The aircraft crashed at the end of the runway shortly after 4.30pm.
"It is not into a hanger. No one on the ground was injured in the accident and civil aviation will be investigating it," Lisa D'Oliveira, a spokesman for the base, said.
A man watching aircraft land with his son, who wants to be a pilot, watched the tragedy unfold.
"It seemed to fly over the air base, it did a very sharp right-hand turn and got into a stall situation," he said on TV3.
"Then it just headed straight for the ground.
"I looked and I thought `gee, that's not going to pull out of that in a hurry'.
"It carried straight down and hit the ground on quite an angle.
"There was a big plume of smoke followed by a very large flash."
- NZPA
