KEY POINTS:
Air accident inspectors will today remove the wreckage from the site of a plane crash which killed Tauranga pilot Aleisha O'Reilly.
Ms O'Reilly, 22, died during a routine training flight on Friday afternoon after the plane crashed in a steep gully in Te Urewera National Park.
Her student, 19-year-old Chris Slee, survived the crash with only minor injuries and was able to walk out of the dense bush the Cessna 152 crashed into to raise the alarm.
A CAA spokesman said today inspectors had been at the site for two days and would be trying to arrange the wreckage to be airlifted out today.
Once the wreckage is recovered it will be put into secure storage, where inspectors will examine it to see if there was any mechanical failure on the plane.
He said it was likely to be about a year before the investigators delivered a final report on the crash.
Ms O'Reilly's body was removed from the crash site on Saturday by a police search and rescue recovery operation.
The plane crashed into a steep gully near Ruatahuna, north west of Lake Waikaremoana.
Ms O'Reilly and Mr Slee were from the Tauranga Bay Flight International flight school.
Friends have described her as bright and bubbly, with a passion for flying.
She had been flying for four years and had logged around 500 hours in the air.
- NZPA
