One Victim Recovered, Search For Cockpit Continues

There's not much hope of recovering anything more and yet, the body of a New Zealand pilot and much of the cockpit where he spent his last moments is still somewhere under the sea, near the coastal city of Wellington.

The Convair 580 (file photo of type, above) owned by AirFreight New Zealand was flying in stormy weather more than a week ago when it dropped off radar screens. On board were pilot Barry Cowley and co-pilot Phil Miller. Witnesses say they heard the aircraft circling in the clouds above, heard a bang, then later smelled a strong odor of aviation fuel. Bits of the aircraft have washed up on shore ever since. Last week, authorities used sonar to find the bulk of the wreckage. Divers on Friday recovered the body of one of the two crew members on board when the Convair went down. Both black boxes were recovered.

Divers called off their search late Sunday saying there's little hope of finding anything more of substance. Still, there's hope that the remains of the second pilot will be recovered by a salvage vessel slated to arrive on Monday morning. That ship is tasked with recovering the cockpit of the smashed cargo plane and perhaps the body of the second pilot.

Search coordinator Senior Sergeant Mike Coleman said, "Getting the large cockpit will be the first thing they hopefully will be able to lift up."

FMI: www.caa.govt.nz