Fortunately, the aviation accident was all show and just one of the spectacular final scenes from a New Zealand made short film being shot in the small rural town.
No one was injured.
Producer Lisa Hastie said the 10 to 15 minute film had a working title of Waiting for the World to End, and was the brain child of Dunedin twins and directors Kirk and Luke Bremner.
The plot centres on a lonely widower called Perry, played by Dunedin actor Eric Smith (78), who fights his son's attempts to place him in an old people's home.
''The old man has been building this old plane in his back shed for about 30 years,'' Luke said.
''It's basically that fight or flight moment when he decides he's going because he doesn't want to go into the rest home.
''So he finishes the plane in a hurry, grabs his suitcase and his pet budgie, and gets the local paper boy to help push the plane off down the street in front of his house.''
Mr Bremner said it was not a true story, but it was a situation that could play out in reality.
''It's every old person's plight. Do you just give up, or do you follow your dreams and live life to the full?''
Miss Hastie said the twins received $30,000 from the New Zealand Film Commission's talent development fund to produce the film.
The commission saw talent in the boys, she said.
Filming was completed yesterday with the shooting of the plane crash scene in Middlemarch.
Production was expected to be finished by July. It was hoped the film would be screened at international film festivals.
As for what happens to poor old Perry, you will all have to wait and see, she said.
