What happened
During a top dressing operation in the vicinity of Motueka, an aircraft crashed while operating at a low altitude. The pilot, who was the only person on board the aircraft at the time, was performing agricultural spraying duties when the left wing made contact with a pine tree. This impact caused the aircraft to lose altitude rapidly, leading to a crash on the northern face of a nearby ridge.
Findings
- The accident resulted in one fatality.
- The sequence of events began when the aircraft struck vegetation during a low-altitude flight phase.
- The primary factor in the crash was the impact with a pine tree which destabilized the flight path.