The congregation at St Paul’s Church is preparing for "a tough couple of weeks" as the fatal crash of a churchgoer on a skiing holiday was announced.

Debris was strewn for almost 1km as a church group smashed into the side of a mountain aboard a helicopter yesterday, killing one and injuring six.

The Otaki man who was killed when his Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down over the Ukraine has been formally identified.

'It was a wonderful flight, we were having a great time.' An American couple have spoken about the day their scenic Lord of the Rings flight turned deadly.

The wife of a missing pilot says it's a miracle that wreckage of her husband's bi-plane which disappeared more than four months ago has apparently been recovered.

Fears about air travel are common and entirely understandable. Human beings have not evolved to fly, writes psychologist Peter Kinderman.

Dutch and Australian experts have gathered more remains from the crash site of Flight MH17 in east Ukraine.

The inquest into the Carterton hot air balloon disaster left victims’ families reeling from revelations about the balloon’s pilot — and asking why authorities didn’t act.

Complaints were made about balloon pilot Lance Hopping being too impaired to fly, and cheating on his pilot's test before the Carterton disaster, but no action was taken.

Today's memorial service for Malaysia Airlines victim Rob Ayley will be held at the same church where he regularly played the drums.

Malaysian Airlines is set for a brand overhaul after two major tragedies in the last six months, it emerged today.

France says there are no survivors from the Air Algerie flight that crashed in Mali and several families have been been wiped out in the tragedy.

The family of Rob Ayley, who was killed on flight MH17, will hold a private memorial tomorrow while they wait for his body to be returned.

This year is the deadliest for air disasters since 2010, but Kiwi aviation experts say passengers are still statistically unlikely to die in an aircraft crash.

Malaysia Airlines' website has gone dark. In keeping with airline practice after a crash, its special "dark site" is free of logos and the imagery of its standard home page.

Survivor of the Anzac Day helicopter crash Sergeant Stevin Creeggan has endured years of pain and humiliating treatment from the Air Force, but his family are speaking out.

The sole New Zealand citizen on board the ill-fated MH17 flight has been remembered as a "warm, creative and generous" person.

It is like Pauly has died again and we are in that huge emotional hole of shock and absolute despair.

New Zealand journalist Alexi O'Brien this morning described the scene as horrendous. O'Brien is in the Ukraine for Al Jazeera.

Auckland aviation expert Irene King says the "thugs" who shot down the Malaysian airliner will never get away with claiming they thought their target was military.

Tensions are ramping up between two global super powers after a Malaysia Airlines passenger flight was shot down over Ukraine.

Scenes of horror, with crumpled corpses and body parts strewn amid the smouldering wreckage, greeted local villagers and pro-Russian rebels who were first on the crash site.

A Malaysia Airlines flight attendant who flew to Auckland a fortnight ago is among those on board the Boeing 777 airliner shot down in Ukraine early yesterday NZ time.

"We have every expectation our son will be getting off a plane in Wellington tomorrow," says Wendy Ayley, mother of Otaki man Robert Ayley, who was on flight MH17.

A fate as horrific as that of the 298 people on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 invites a thorough rethinking of a number of cherished notions.

A Western Australia family is mourning the cruel loss of three children who were travelling with their grandfather on the doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

News organisations have forever struggled with determining the line where news value ends and shock value and sensationalism begin.