Two people died yesterday afternoon when an aerobatics plane crashed near Wanaka airfield in Otago.
The Pitts Special S-2a, owned by Biplane Adventures, crashed just short of the airfield about 3.10 pm, killing the occupants.
They were pilot Tom Middleton of Wanaka and his passenger Craig John Higgins, aged 31 of England.
Mr Higgins' wife was waiting at the airfield for her husband when the plane crashed.
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, Martyn Gosling, said the aircraft was a specially designed aerobatics plane.
Either the authority or the Transport Accident Investigation Commission would investigate the crash.
A witness said the plane had crashed about a kilometre south of the airfield.
"The plane was in normal flight at the time. It was neither landing nor taking off."
Would-be rescuers arrived at the crash scene about three minutes after the plane went down, he said.
But there was nothing they could do for the occupants.
- NZPA
Two die in stunt-plane crash near airfield
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