| |
|| Police collect debris on Amberley Beach, about 5km from where the bodies
| of
|| Russell Smith and his wife, Marian D'Eve, were found yesterday. Picture /
|| Simon
|| Baker
|| 09.08.05
|| By Elizabeth Binning and Louisa Cleave
|| The victim of a light plane crash that remained unnoticed for almost a
day
|| was one of New Zealand's most successful businessmen.
||
|| Russell Smith and his wife, Marian D'Eve, died when their Cessna 182
| crashed
|| into the sea off North Canterbury on Sunday afternoon.
||
|| Their bodies were discovered yesterday morning on a North Canterbury
| beach,
|| just an hour after they were finally reported missing.
||
|| Dr Smith was the founder of Pulse Data, a company known internationally
| for
|| its Braille and speech technology, screen-reading software and
|| video-magnification
|| solutions.
||
|| It has an annual turnover of around $50 million.
||
|| Ms D'Eve was an early childhood education specialist and author of a
|| handbook for teachers.
||
|| The Canterbury couple had been at a weekend conference in Taupo.
||
|| On the flight home they refuelled at Nelson on Sunday, making their last
|| transmission to Nelson's air traffic control before 2pm.
||
|| They were heading for the airstrip on their property at Aylesbury, west
of
|| Christchurch, and were due to land at 4.40pm.
||
|| Authorities are trying to find out what happened in the 18 hours between
| the
|| couple leaving Nelson and their bodies being found, and why it took so
| long
|| for a search to begin.
||
|| Rescue Co-ordination Centre spokesman Steve Corbett said a concerned
| friend
|| or relative called Nelson Airport to report the small plane overdue about
|| 8.30am
|| yesterday.
||
|| The call was transferred to Christchurch Airport, then to the Rescue
|| Co-ordination Centre.
||
|| Mr Corbett said the couple did not file a flight plan - it is not
required
|| by law - and that made it difficult to know where to start the search.
||
|| Plans to send a helicopter were hampered by low cloud and fog which hung
|| around Canterbury for most of yesterday morning.
||
|| Just as staff tried to pinpoint a place to begin the search, Ms D'Eve's
| body
|| was found about 9.40am by a person walking on Leithfield Beach.
||
|| Police were called and after a short search they found Dr Smith's body
| about
|| 1km away.
||
|| Mr Corbett said once it was established the bodies had come from the
plane
|| the search and rescue mission was effectively finished.
||
|| By midday a wheel from a plane washed ashore at Amberley Beach, about 5km
|| north of where the bodies were found. During the afternoon more wreckage
| was
|| found
|| along the coast, but the main fuselage had not been located last night.
||
|| Directors of the company founded by Dr Smith last night described him as
a
|| true pioneer whose death would be felt worldwide.
||
|| HumanWare chairman Timothy Robinson said the crash was a "massive shock"
| for
|| everyone who knew the couple. He described Dr Smith as the "Bill Gates"
of
|| an industry that provided information technology for the blind and
| visually
|| impaired.
||
|| HumanWare director Fran Wilde said Dr Smith was a true entrepreneur and
an
|| internationally recognised business leader.
||
|| The Civil Aviation Authority is sending two investigators to the scene.
||
|
|
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