When they reached 4B, Lauren saw a gouge where the plane had landed. There was only moonlight and she had to pull up and aim her headlight to spot the tub resting against the tree, nose first.

‘You OK?’ Lauren asked, as she approached her brother.

James was stuck a metre and a half up. He’d got his helmet and harness off, but one of the wing struts had bent across his lap, stopping him from dropping out.

‘I’m pinned,’ James explained breathlessly.

Lauren reached under the tub, opened a flap and pulled a lever designed to shut off fuel supply to the engine. The buckled strut was detachable, but Bruce realised James would fall face first and his first-aid training kicked in.

‘Before I release you, can you move your fingers and toes?’ Bruce asked.

‘I’m not paralysed,’ James shouted anxiously. ‘Just release the damned thing and start helping Kerry.’

‘What about your neck?’ Bruce asked. ‘Do you have full movement?’

‘She’s unconscious,’ James shouted. ‘I’m fine.’

A second light came from Kyle’s bike, and a Land Cruiser driven by Capstick was approaching via a wider path a couple of hundred metres off to the side. Bruce released the collar holding the strut in place, then worked with Lauren, helping James slide out, lowering him to the ground and helping him stumble away from the remains of the plane.

James was ghost white and panic breathing. He moved to help Kerry, but Lauren wagged her finger.

‘Sit down until you’ve been looked at,’ she ordered.

The tub rested nose-first against a shattered tree, with Kerry slumped sideways in the pilot’s seat. Bruce and Kyle decided it would be easiest to attend to Kerry if she was flat on the ground, so the pair grabbed the propeller mount and gently lowered the tub to the ground.

‘Tree’s a goner,’ Kyle said warily, as he looked at a huge gash in the trunk and roots sticking out of the ground. ‘But if it falls it’ll fall away from us.’

As Kyle knelt down and unzipped the medical kit, Bruce leaned over Kerry and gently flipped up her visor.

‘Is she breathing?’ James asked desperately, as he tried to stand up.

‘Sit,’ Lauren ordered.

Kyle had found a big battery-powered lantern in the medical case and Bruce was delighted to see Kerry’s eyelids squeeze as the light hit.

‘Kerry, can you hear me?’ Bruce asked.

‘Yeah,’ Kerry moaned.

‘She’s dazed but conscious,’ Bruce shouted, as the Land Cruiser arrived at the other end of the strip. Alfie and Ning had also run all the way from the main strip. Only Tovah stayed back, because the twins were still up in the air.

‘She’s in a lot of pain,’ Lauren said. ‘You got oxygen in that case, Kyle?’