DEATHS BRING HALT TO CANNABIS SPOTTING FL

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DEATHS BRING HALT TO CANNABIS SPOTTING FLIGHTS

Police have stopped cannabis reconnaissance flights after a plane crash
killed a top Queenstown officer and his pilot, devastating the force and
leaving six young children fatherless.

Detective Travis Hughes, 37, and civilian pilot Chris Scott, 33, of Bay of
Plenty, were killed when their Cessna 172 crashed on a routine
reconnaissance flight about 12.30pm on Saturday in the Gibbston area, near
Queenstown.

Both men had young children - Hughes had two pre-schoolers and Scott had
four children under the age of 11.

Accident investigators were at the scene of the crash yesterday trying to
determine a cause, as police ordered a halt to reconnaissance flights for
the time being. There is no indication of sabotage at this stage.

Police yesterday extended condolences to both families, who were described
as being in shock.

"There have been six children rendered fatherless by this tragedy," said
police acting deputy commissioner of operations Jon White, who travelled to
Queenstown on Saturday.

Hughes' wife, Fiona, who has travelled to the site of the accident, would
not be commenting to the media, a family member said.

The Scott family flew to Queenstown yesterday, as did Police Commissioner
Rob Robinson, who met the families and attended a private service for the
men at the Queenstown police station.

The aircraft was stabilised yesterday on a hillside in a remote,
tussock-filled open valley, just south of Coal Pit Saddle, about 16km from
Queenstown Airport. The men's bodies were retrieved from the scene on
Saturday night and police are awaiting the results of post-mortem examinations.

It is understood the men were not in the air long before the crash happened.

Southern District Commander Superintendent George Fraser said that weather
conditions were good and there was no indication of what caused the crash.

"Any aircraft crash of this nature is a tragedy. The involvement of
individuals working as part of a police operation hits everyone involved in
the organisation particularly hard," he said.

White said Scott's company was contracted by New Zealand police to supply
flights for the cannabis reconnaissance programme nationally.

Scott had flown in the Queenstown area before. The work involved low-level
flying, following up on leads from members of the public to help locate
cannabis plots.

The programme had been put on hold because of Saturday's crash, White said.

"We don't think it's prudent to carry on at this stage. We have lost a
colleague in Travis and a friend of the police in Chris Scott. We will be
making a decision on further flights in the near future."