The pilot, four other New Zealand men and four overseas tourists who had been about to go skydiving, died in the crash, which happened at the end of the runway at Fox Glacier Airport at 1.15pm.
Police said the pilot was Chaminda Senadhira, 33, from Queenstown, and the four dive masters were Adam Bennett, 47, from Moteuka, Michael Suter, 32, from New Plymouth, Christopher McDonald, 62, from Mapua, and Rodney Miller, 55 from Greymouth.
The four tourists who died were Patrick Byrne, 26, from County Wexford, Ireland; Glen Bourke, 18, from Coburg, Victoria, Australia; Annita Kirsten, 23, from Germany; and Brad Coker, 24, from Farnborough, England.
The Fletcher FU24 crashed about 50m from the volunteer fire brigade's chief officer John Sullivan's home.
"It burst into flames on impact, I didn't see any sign of smoke or fire before then," Mr Sullivan told NZPA.
"I ran straight out there and did a quick 360 around the whole thing (but) by that time it was in flames. I thought that maybe if someone had been thrown clear on impact or if they'd tried to jump out in the air then there might have been something I could have done, but looking around the whole area there was no sign of life."
Mr Sullivan said the entire town would be affected by the tragedy.
"It's a very small, close-knit community here, and everybody knew the guys involved apart from the tourists who were taking part in the skydiving."
He told the Herald on Sunday he had known Mr Miller for years, and had met Mr Senadhira a few times.
Mr Sullivan described Mr Miller "was a real get-up-and-go guy -- he was a good man" and said Mr Senadhira was a "one hell of a nice guy."
New Zealand Skydiving Association chief executive Gareth Jacobs told the newspaper he knew Mr Miller and Mr Senadhira as "the skydiving community is small -- everyone knows everyone else".
Mr Jacobs described Mr Senadhira as a "fairly quiet sort of guy".
Parachute Industry Association chairman Stuart Bean, who was a friend of Mr Miller's, spoke to him a night before the crash.
"He was my very best mate. I'm gutted."
A three-member Transport Accident Investigation Commission team was due to arrive in Fox Glacier today to begin a scene investigation.
TAIC's investigator-in-charge had been liaising with police regarding initial scene recording and evidence gathering, any essential wreckage handling, site security, and witness identification.
The death toll was the highest in an air crash in New Zealand for nearly 17 years.
Nine people also died in a plane crash in October 1993, when a twin-engine Nomad 22 crashed in a severely crevassed and pinnacled area of Franz Josef Glacier. The two pilots and all seven passengers on board were all killed on impact.
Another air disaster on the West Coast claimed the lives of seven people the following October, when a Helicopter Line Squirrel helicopter on a sightseeing flight crashed in a mountainous area near Fox Glacier.
