Wellington - Christchurch

On August 8, 1977 at 09:30 PM, Wellington - Christchurch experienced a crash involving Cessna 404 Titan, operated by Dalhoff %26 King Flying School, with the event recorded near Christchurch Canterbury Regional Council.

The flight was categorized as postal (mail) and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

1 people were known to be on board, 1 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The pilot, sole on board, was completing a mail flight from Wellington to Christchurch. He departed FL100 and started the descent to Christchurch when he reported technical problems to ATC and later declared an emergency after an engine was shut down. Few seconds later, he lost control of the airplane that entered a spin and crashed into the sea. SAR operations were initiated but no trace of the aircraft nor the pilot was found.

Aircraft reference details include registration ZK-TAS, MSN 404-0067, year of manufacture 1977.