It's been a rough year for aviation but occasional tragedies are a part of flying, Daniel Crow says.
Mr Crow's father, Raymond, died when the Glenorchy Air Piper Cherokee he was piloting on a Lord of the Rings sightseeing flight crashed just north of the Poolburn Reservoir last August.
Mr Crow said he was still coming to grips with the death of his father, but aviation tragedies were most often down to chance and unavoidable.
His comments came after the Macdonald family were killed when the Cessna 185 they were on board crashed near Wanaka on Monday.
''Most people that go flying in light aircraft know the dangers but they do it anyway, because they love it,'' Mr Crow told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
''My dad flew planes since he was 16 and never had anything [go] wrong and the one time his engine failed he died doing what he loved most.''
Mr Crow said driving near Queenstown was more dangerous than flying and tragedy was often down to chance.
''You can't prevent an engine from failing - it just happens. But when it happens in a plane you fall out of the sky and there's not much chance you'll live,'' he said.
''I think in most of these crashes around here the pilot usually isn't at fault - it's the plane. I think this last year has just been a rough year for aviation.''
He gave his condolences to the extended Macdonald family.
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