Crash of a Fletcher FU-24-950M near Matawai

Date & Time: Sep 20, 2003 at 1015 LT
Type of aircraft:
Operator:
Registration:
ZK-BDS
Flight Phase:
Flight Type:
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Schedule:
Motu - Opotiki
MSN:
001
YOM:
1954
Country:
Region:
Crew on board:
1
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
1
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
0
Circumstances:
Crashed during bad weather. Andrew Wilde was flying and George Muir was a passenger. While enroute from Motu - Opotiki the gully became un-negotiable, so Andrew decided to return to Motu by flying a reciprocal course low level, depicted by arrows on his hand held marine GPS. During the return trip to Motahora up the Otara river valley, he found that the cloud base had lowered even further than when he entered the valley 6 minutes prior & he became fully reliant on that little GPS. The GPS became our enemy & lured Andrew into the cloud base, which ended our flight abruptly.
Testimony from George Muir, loader driver and passenger during this flight.