Pubdate: Mon, 31 Jan 2005
Source: Southland Times (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2005, Southland Times Company Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.southlandtimes.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1041
Author: Lin Ferguson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

TRAGEDY HITS TWO FAMILIES

Queenstown police were mourning the loss of a close colleague and friend 
yesterday after a light plane, a Cessna 172, crashed in Gibbston Valley on 
Saturday killing the pilot and his police officer passenger.

Detective Travis Hughes, 37, of Queenstown, and pilot Chris Scott, 38, of 
Whakatane, were both killed instantly, police said yesterday.

Southern police district commander Superintendent George Fraser said the 
two men were on a routine cannabis reconnaissance flight in the hills 
behind the Gibbston Valley.

Saturday's flight was part of an annual national police programme 
throughout New Zealand that had been running for 20 years, Mr Fraser said.

"It was just a routine flight, it was not exceptional. We were following 
information about cannabis plots in the area."

The crash had happened a very short time after the plane had taken off from 
Queenstown Airport but Mr Fraser said he couldn't be specific about the 
actual time.

"We don't know yet."

An emergency beacon alert had been received by the National Rescue 
Co-ordination Centre in Wellington at 12.13pm and a Queenstown-based 
helicopter had flown out straight away, he said.

It was an hour before the helicopter and crew found the Cessna 172 and the 
bodies of the two men crashed into the side of the steep hill, Mr Fraser said.

"We don't know what happened, we're still getting details.

"The flight did mean some low-level flying to search and see where cannabis 
plots were located in the area."

But he couldn't comment as to whether there had been anything unusual about 
crash.

"That's for the air accident investigators."

The men's bodies were removed from the wreckage just after 8 o'clock on 
Saturday night.

Autopsies would be done on both.

Mr Scott was familiar with the area, having flown in the Queenstown region 
several times, he said.

Civil Aviation Air Accident Inspector John Goddard from Wellington had been 
at the scene since Saturday night, he said.

The terrain in the crash area was typically Central Otago with thickets of 
thorny matagouri and steep rocky outcrops.

A second detective, Grant Miller, who was at the crash site yesterday was 
also supposed to have been on the fatal flight.

But there hadn't been enough room on board with all the equipment, Mr 
Miller said from crash scene yesterday Mr Fraser said the tragedy had hit 
both families very hard and they were very shocked.

"We were with Mr Hughes's family late on Saturday night and also called Mr 
Scott's family."

Mr Hughes was an enormously popular police officer who also worked in 
search and rescue.

Mr Scott was a well-known and respected pilot who had flown several police 
missions throughout New Zealand, he said.

"They were both wonderful men. It is a sad, sad loss and terrible tragedy 
for two young families."
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MAP posted-by: Beth