Wednesday, August 06, 2014

Acro Sport II, ZK-DJK: New Zealand trawler hauls in plane wreck and body

The crew aboard a New Zealand fishing boat on Thursday hauled in a surprising and gruesome catch: a small plane with a body in the wreckage. 

 The crew of the 18.5 metre (61-foot) vessel San Kawhai was trawling for fish when they brought up the plane in the boat’s nets at about 10am, said Trish Sherson, a spokeswoman for fishing company Sanford.

Police said in a statement that fishermen were transporting the wreckage to a bay near Great Barrier Island, about 90 kilometres (56 miles) northeast of Auckland.

Police said they were heading to the scene with a barge to lift the plane.

They said they were contacting the family of missing Auckland pilot Daroish Kraidy about the discovery.

The 53-year-old pilot took off March 25 in a home-built aerobatic biplane from an airport near Auckland.

Rescuers searched for a week but found no trace of Kraidy or his plane.

New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority confirmed Kraidy’s plane was the only one in the country listed as missing.

Kraidy had previously flown in the World Precision Flying Championships.

His ex-wife and daughter told Fairfax Media in May they believed his disappearance was deliberate after he had battled depression for years.

Kraidy’s transponder was switched off soon after takeoff and the plane disappeared from radar screens.

His ex-wife noted some similarities to the disappearance 17 days earlier of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, with 239 passengers on board.

That plane has not been found.


http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com

 The plane's wreckage is lifted out of the water.
 Picture: AP 



Daroish Kraidy's plane went missing near the area 

Earlier this year a homebuilt plane piloted by 53-year-old Daroish Kraidy went missing near the area. 


A small plane has been found in the ocean by a fishing trawler near Cape Barrier.

The Police Maritime Unit is heading to Great Barrier Island to meet with the operators of a fishing boat that hauled up the plane in a net when trawling off the island's coast this morning.

The surprising catch was reported to police at about 11.10am.

The Civil Aviation Authority and the New Zealand Rescue Centre have been notified.

Police, who have not released any details of the discovery, expect to be at Great Barrier Island by about 4pm today.

It's unclear what kind of plane it is or how long it's been at sea.

However, earlier this year a homemade bi-plane piloted by 53-year-old Daroish Kraidy went missing near the area. An extensive aerial and sea search failed to find the plane or Mr Kraidy.

It's believed that the plane discovered today contained a body.

Mike Richards of the Civil Aviation Authority said Daroish Kraidy's plane was the only missing plane the he knew of in New Zealand.

"It's an unusual case to say the least."

Police are now in the process of contacting Mr Kraidy's family and close associates.

At the time Mr Kraidy's plane disappeared his brother Deon, who lives in South Africa, described him as a "very experienced" pilot who used to be a jet pilot in the South African air force.

Mr Kraidy had been a pilot for about 35 years, Deon said, and had lived in New Zealand for the past "13 or 14" years. He had represented New Zealand at the Precision Flying World Championships.

Mr Kraidy has a 21-year-old son in New Zealand and a 24-year-old daughter in Australia.

No distress beacon was been activated when the plane went missing.

Trawler operators Sanford declined to comment on the discovery, while Coastguard Northern Region also referred queries to the police.


- Source:  http://www.nzherald.co.nz

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