The Civil Aviation Authority is launching an investigation into the plane crash in Northland this afternoon in which two people died.

The plane crashed on a dairy farm at Pouto near Dargaville shortly after 12.15pm.

Police say the scene is being examined by the Serious Crash Unit and the crash will be referred to the Civil Aviation Authority and the Coroner.

The Civil Aviation Authority says the aircraft type was a Vans RV 7. It was carrying the pilot and one passenger at the time of the crash.

The CAA is deploying two safety investigators from Wellington to commence the investigation.

At this stage it is too early to say what may have caused the accident, said spokesman Mike Richards.

The CAA investigators will arrive tomorrow and will first meet with police and speak with emergency services who attended the accident, Mr Richards said.

The safety investigators will review any photographs taken at the scene at Te Kopuru in Kaipara District and will also arrange to talk to any witnesses, he said.

"Once the site is handed over from Police the investigators will move to the initial phase of the physical investigation, which will be undertaken at the crash site. The crash site will be secured overnight," Mr Richards said.

That's what we saw spiralling out of the sky was the wing - Crash witness

The CAA won’t have any further updates until after the Investigator in Charge has completed a site visit, likely to be Tuesday afternoon, he said.

A witness has told 1 NEWS she arrived at the scene to see the light plane nosedived into a paddock.

The woman said, according to the fire brigade the wreckage is scattered over about a 500 metre radius and she saw parts of the plane across the road, "which we surmise had fallen off before it crashed".

"That's what we saw spiralling out of the sky was the wing. That''s the first thing we saw."</s>The identity of the the pilot killed in a plane crash in Northland yesterday has been confirmed.

Dean Voelkerling died in the crash on a dairy farm at Pouto near Dargaville, shortly after 12.15pm.

Mr Voelkerling was a rescue helicopter pilot. He was operations manager at Northland's Emergency Services Trust.

He was flying his homemade kit set plane when it crashed.

Mr Voelkerling and another person - whose identity is yet to be confirmed, died in the crash.

The Civil Aviation Authority are investigating and the deaths have been referred to the Coroner.</s>Two people are dead after a light plane crashed on farmland about four kilometres south of Te Kopuru just after midday.

Witnesses reported seeing debris fly off the northward-bound plane about a kilometre before it plunged into a paddock alongside the Northern Wairoa River.

Police said two people were dead after a plane crashed at Te Kopuru in Kaipara District.

Emergency services were called to the scene shortly after 12.15pm.

The scene was being examined by the Serious Crash Unit and the crash would be referred to the Civil Aviation Authority and the coroner.</s>The second Twenty20 between New Zealand and the West Indies ended as a no-result washout at Mount Maunganui on Monday. (NEW ZEALAND vs WEST INDIES 2ND T20I)

After a 20-minute rain delay at the start, only nine overs were possible before the rain returned and the umpires took the players from the field with New Zealand 102 for four.

Colin Munro blasted a whirlwind 66 off 23 deliveries after the West Indies won the toss and put New Zealand into bat. Munro equalled his own New Zealand record when he reached his half-century off 18 deliveries.

His rollicking knock included 11 fours, three sixes, and just two singles and a two. However, following the wicket of Munro, West Indies struck back with quick wickets before the rain descended and ensured no further play was possible.

New Zealand lead 1-0 in the series with the third and final match at Mount Maunganui on Wednesday.</s>The second Twenty20 between New Zealand and the West Indies ended as a no-result washout at Mount Maunganui on Monday.

After a 20-minute rain delay at the start, only nine overs were possible before the rain returned and the umpires took the players from the field with New Zealand 102 for four.

Colin Munro blasted a whirlwind 66 off 23 deliveries after the West Indies won the toss and put New Zealand into bat.

Munro equalled his own New Zealand record when he reached his half-century off 18 deliveries.

His rollicking knock included 11 fours, three sixes, and just two singles and a two.

New Zealand remain 1-0 up in the series with the third and final match at Mount Maunganui on Wednesday.</s>The second Twenty20 between New Zealand and the West Indies ended as a no-result washout at Mount Maunganui on Monday. After a 20-minute rain delay at the start, only nine overs were possible before the rain returned and the umpires took the players from the field with New Zealand 102 for four. Colin Munro blasted a whirlwind 66 off 23 deliveries after the West Indies won the toss and put New Zealand into bat. Munro equalled his own New Zealand record when he reached his half-century off 18 deliveries.</s>A New York family of 5 are among the 10 Americans killed in Sunday’s plane crash in Guanacaste.

According to the New York Times, several weeks ago, Bruce and Irene Steinberg, from Scarsdale, New York, had told their friends and family how excited they were about the adventure they were going to undertake with their three children in a country with “exuberant tropical forests and beaches.”

The Steinbergs were accompanied by the children William, Zachary and Mathew (17, 19 and 13).

See also Strongs Winds Possible Cause Of Plane Crash That Left 12 Dead In Guanacaste

The family, along with a group of 15 other American tourists, had been visiting Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. On Sunday, the Steinbergs, in the second group of 10 American tourists, were headed to San Jose for their flight home. But the small plane, a Cessna Grand Caravan with the tail letters TI- BEI, carrying them crashed in the area of Nandayure, Guanacaste, minutes after taking off at 12:10 pm.

The other victims of the crash were identified as Thibault Astruc, Amanda Rae Geissler, Charles Palmer, Leslie Weiss and Sherry Wuu; and the Nature Air pilots, Costa Ricans Emma Ramos and Juan Manuel Retana.

The first plane, carrying the other 10 American tourists, had taken off at 11:00 am and had landed at the Juan Santamaria airport at 11:40 am and without incident.

Authorities responded to smoke and flames rising from a wooded area near the Punta Islita airfield, first responders finding the charred wreckage of the small aircraft and the burned remains of those who had been on board. There were no survivors.

The New York Times reported, “A sister of Mr. Steinberg confirmed Sunday night in a Facebook post that her brother and his family had died in the crash. A relative who answered the phone at Mr. Steinberg’s parents’ home in Florida confirmed that the Steinbergs lived in Scarsdale, a suburb north of New York City, with their sons William, Zachary, and Matthew.”

“They were the kind of people you would like to have many of,” the relative said before saying she had to hang up. “They always did everything as a family,” said the report.

Aviacion Civil (Civil Aviation) authorities on Sunday said the cause of the crash was unknown but that the small airplane had encountered bad weather – wind gusts of up 50 km/h. Ennio Cubillo, director of the Civil Aviation, explained at a press conference that the plane, on its way to Punta Islita from San Jose, had landed first at the Tambor aerodromo (airfield), taking off again after the winds had died down, eventually landed at 11 am at Punta Islita.

After picking up the passengers, the plane took off for San Jose. Photos posted on Facebook by the Ministerio de Seguridad Publica (MSP), show that the small plane crashed several hundred meters from the end of the Punta Islita runway.

On Facebook, President Luis Guillermo Solis, who is vacationing in Spain, lamented the tragedy, offered his condoliences to the families of the tourists and pilots and confirmed that an investigation would be underway today (Jan. 1) to detemine the cause of the crash.

In September, an American and another passenger on a Nature Air flight died when a single-engine Cessna crashed in the Torres river, in San Jose, minutes after taking off from the Pavas airport.

On Twitter, former President Laura Chinchilla (2010 – 2014) said her cousin had been the pilot of the downed plane.

The Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ), reported last night all the bodies of the victims had been recovered and were transferred to the Forensic Medicine Lab in Heredia.</s>A plane carrying 10 US citizens and two local crew members crashed in a wooded area, killing all aboard today, Costa Rica's government said.

The Public Safety Ministry posted photographs and video of the crash site showing burning wreckage of the plane in Guanacaste, northwest Costa Rica.

Authorities said that so far they had only a list of passengers provided by the airline and were awaiting official confirmation of their identities.

At a news conference, Enio Cubillo, director of Costa Rica Civil Aviation, said the Nature Air charter flight took off just after noon Sunday local time from Punta Islita and was headed for the capital of San Jose when it crashed.

Cubillo said the cause was under investigation.

He identified the pilot as Juan Manuel Retana and described him as very experienced. Former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla said via Twitter that Retana was her cousin.

Smoke rises from the site of a plane crash in Punta Islita, Guanacaste, Costa Rica,

The same plane had arrived in Punta Islita on Sunday morning from San Jose and was delayed in landing by strong winds, Cubillo said.

Nature Air did not respond to phone and email messages.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says at this stage there is no indication any New Zealanders were on board a plane.</s>New Zealand's Colin Munro bats during the second Twenty20 international cricket match between New Zealand and the West Indies at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on January 1, 2018. | AFP

MOUNT MAUNGANUI: The second Twenty20 between New Zealand and the West Indies ended as a no-result washout at Mount Maunganui on Monday.

After a 20-minute rain delay at the start, only nine overs were possible before the rain returned and the umpires took the players off the field with New Zealand 102 for four.

Colin Munro blasted a whirlwind 66 off 23 deliveries after the West Indies won the toss and put New Zealand into bat.

Munro equalled his own New Zealand record when he reached his half-century off 18 deliveries.

His rollicking knock included 11 fours, three sixes, and just two singles and a two.

New Zealand remains 1-0 up in the series with the third and final match at Mount Maunganui on Wednesday.</s>Teens write essays in police station to avoid paying Wanaka New Year's Eve liquour ban fines

"We are not there to humiliate or judge them. We just want them to come away from New Year having done some thinking."
Two people are killed in a plane crash in Northland, New Zealand.