A memorial will be unveiled in Carterton today on the fourth anniversary of the fatal hot air balloon crash which killed 11 people.
On January 7, 2012, a scenic hot air balloon flight collided with a powerline, causing it to catch fire and crash.
Pilot Lance Hopping, 53 of Masterton, Howard and Diana Cox, aged 71 and 63, of Wellington, Desmond and Ann Dean, 65 and 70, of Masterton, cousins Valerie Bennett, 70, of Masterton, and Denise Dellabarca, 58, of Paraparaumu, Stephen Hopkirk, 50, and Belinda Harter, 49, of Lower Hutt, and Chrisjan Jordaan, 21, and Alexis Still, 19, of Wellington all died at the scene.
Pilot Lance Hopping
Carterton Mayor John Booth says today is an opportunity to pay tribute to those who lost their lives.
"Today we have a very large limestone boulder. On that is a plaque with the names of the 11 people that died that day. We have a small service to unveil this big boulder today."
Mr Booth says there are no longer any hot air balloon operators in Carterton.
Allan Still's daughter Alexis was killed in the crash, and says memorial will be a special time for the families of those who died.
"It'll be a special day for us and our family so we will be there and we'll go along to the unveiling and it'll be a moving time for not only our family but all the families of the loved ones who were lost."
While the sombre anniversary is being marked, Mr Still says there's still fight left in the families of the victims to ensure the safety of others.
"It's just to ensure you and your children, if they ever embark on these types of activities, they have a bit of confidence there's a system in place that can cover the possibility of this sort of thing happening again."
He says he's pleased with the progress made so far, but there's still a way to go and there has been meaningful progress so far.
"There are a few recommendations that have come through from the coroner's report which are being implemented and we're pleased with that and to be fair we've had some fruitful conversations with Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)," Mr Still says.
He's still waiting for a final report from the CAA to see what extra action will be taken.
RadioLIVE
