Free spirit who took to the air

Jessica Rose Neeson was 27 years old when the Cessna 152 she was in collided with another mid-air, crash-landing in a Feilding paddock. Her family spoke to Michelle Duff about the gentle soul they lost.

 

The night before she died, Jessica Neeson rang her mum to ask if she could take some barbed wire from the family farm next time she visited.

Ms Neeson had a project in mind. She had seen a sculpture she liked in a local garden centre, made out of farming wire, and wanted to recreate it herself.

It was an attitude that was typical of the flight instructor – if it looked like it was possible, this gutsy girl would give it a shot.

The barbed wire would never leave the Neesons' Taumarunui farm. A day later Ms Neeson was dead, killed when the Cessna 152 she was in collided with another mid-air and crash-landed near Taonui Aerodrome, in Feilding.

Her student, Patricia Smallman, 64, of Waikanae, also died in the crash.

The man in the second plane, understood to be an international student, landed safely in a paddock and was uninjured.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission is trying to determine the cause of the accident.

In Palmerston North, Ms Neeson's family is reeling from the loss of a sister, daughter and niece.

Her death has come as a shock to the small, tightknit family, who gathered from their homes in Taranaki and King Country to remember Ms Neeson.

They described her yesterday as a gentle soul, a free spirit, who was always smiling, caring and confident. When she laughed, you wanted to laugh too.

"If the world was filled with Jessicas, I don't think we'd have half the problems we have today," uncle John Neeson said.

"She was very sweet, in fact her middle name was Rose and I think that was very appropriate."

Brought up in the small, seaside Coromandel town of Tairua, Ms Neeson was a "sweetheart" with an easygoing nature, her aunty Shelley Mason said.

"You could tell she was special right from the word go. Just a real sweetheart. Nothing fazed her, and as she grew up she remained like that.

"She was never scared of anything – right from when she was little, she had that natural spirit."

When she was five, the family bought a hill-country farm and moved to Taumarunui, where young Jessica went to Tokirima primary school.

But her real playground was the farm. She loved the freedom of riding her horse, Tubby, through the open paddocks.

She waterskiied on the Whanganui River, and rode motocross bikes ahead of her two younger brothers, Tim, now 24, and Jethro, 23.

"It was her life on the farm that made her the person she was, and the experiences she had that made her think for herself. The farm was a free space, there weren't many restrictions there," uncle Richard Neeson said.

"The farm gave her a wide range of experience, emotionally and spiritually."

Ms Neeson aspired to be a pilot after her parents, Alex and Lynette, took her for a flight around Mt Ruapehu when she was 12.

After attending high school at Hamilton's Sacred Heart College, she clocked up her initial flying hours in Hamilton before moving to Tauranga.

Five years ago she moved to Palmerston North and Flight Training Manawatu, where she quickly made friends.

"She loved her life down here, she had a big group of friends and she was very popular. She made friends easily because she was so natural with people, and so comfortable with herself I guess," Richard Neeson said.

"When she was here, flying was her life, that's what she loved."

Ms Neeson's uncle, film director Clive Neeson, was excited about watching his adventure sports film Last Paradise with his niece. It screens in Palmerston North as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival next month.

Ms Neeson had helped during filming, and her name was on the credits.

But Mr Neeson had not wanted her to see it until it was finished. It is his saddest regret, he said.

"It was so sad that she never got to see it, because she lived in the same spirit the movie was about. It's about creating your own path in life and following your dreams ... Jessica was about doing that, she was encouraging young people to follow their dreams."

Ms Neeson's parents were too upset to talk yesterday.

Her funeral will be held at 11am on Tuesday, at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Palmerston North.  Aviation boss speaks out, page 3

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