Eric Hertz's plane wreckage found

The destroyed plane of Eric and Kathy Hertz has been found 56 metres below the ocean surface, yet whether the 2degrees CEO and his wife are on board remains unknown.

New Zealand Police made the discovery late yesterday evening, through the use of the navy's ocean-mapping equipment.

"Once we were able to identify the item of interest it meant we could narrow our search field considerably and deploy even more specialised equipment to the crash site," said Sergeant Warren Shaw, Waikato police search and rescue squad.

"A team from the police, navy and a Civil Aviation Authority [CAA] crash investigator boarded the Raglan Coastguard's Gallagher rescue vessel at first light and headed out to the scene and this afternoon confirmation came back that the remote operated underwater vehicle (ROUV) had captured images of the aircraft."

With the underwater sonar image confirmed as the aircraft which was carrying Hertz and his wife, attempts to recover the missing bodies have neared a step closer despite police calling the finding a 'small step' in the recovery process.

"What the ROUV has shown us is that the aircraft is upside down at a depth of 56 metres on the ocean floor, which means the agencies involved have not being able to confirm if the occupants, Mr and Mrs Hertz, are on board or not," Shaw said.

But as both the police and the navy work tirelessly to retrieve the bodies, Shaw believes the challenge ahead is a tough one, but certainly not impossible.

"We have the right people and equipment on hand, both in Raglan and elsewhere, available to deploy, and each agency remains committed to returning the missing couple back to their family," he said.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Mike Richards said expert help has been on hand through out the operation.

"The police and navy are working closely on options to retrieve the occupants," Richards said.

"Once this is done, the CAA can start considering ways to carry out the investigation as to establishing possible cause or causes of the accident."

Hertz and his wife Kathy are believed to have perished following the crash off the coast of Raglan over the Easter weekend.

IMAGE: Stuff