The pilot and loader-driver of a top-dressing aircraft are in intensive care after a crash in Hawke's Bay.
The men, both in their 60s, suffered severe injuries including compound leg and arm fractures on Tuesday morning.
The pilot of the rescue helicopter that flew them to hospital, Charley Beetham, says it appears the plane may have clipped a deer fence while coming in to land on a strip at Otane, south of Hastings.
Mr Beetham says the men were trapped in the crushed cockpit for some time before being freed.
Hawke's Bay Hospital says one of the injured men is in a critical condition, while the other is in a serious condition.
