One person is dead after a light aircraft crashed on to a Hastings golf course this afternoon.

Emergency services were called to the crash at around 12.15pm on Valentine Road, next to the Hastings Aerodrome.

The glider crashed near the boundary of the Hawkes Bay Golf Club, with debris strewn across the grass and a section of the golf course cordoned off with police tape.

Shortly after 3pm today, police confirmed the sole occupant of the aircraft died at the scene.

The airport, also known as Bridge Pā Aerodrome, has been closed and people are being turned away.

A witness who had been golfing near the No 10 fairway when the glider crashed said it had just taken off and was being towed by another plane.

“We looked up and the plane was just struggling with its engine, it skipped a beat and another and you could feel something was wrong,” he said.

The witness said the glider was by that point well above the light plane, so much so that the rope between them was almost vertical.

The rope then came apart – it wasn’t clear if this was by accident or design – and the glider then plunged into a fast descent onto the fairway, the witness said.

The witness said the light plane that had been towing the glider then circled the crash scene repeatedly for a number of minutes.

“We thought maybe they wanted to land to help but weren’t allowed to.”

A light aircraft crashed on to the Hawke's Bay Golf Club course. Photo / Chris Hyde

The witness said the course was well known for having planes coming in close to it, because of the close nature of the aerodrome.

“There’s signs all over the course saying not to hit a shot when a plane is coming in to land but it’s fine, no one ever wants to hit a shot when one is that close anyway.”

The witness said several golfers saw the crash but because of how common planes were, he wasn’t sure if anyone other than he and his playing partner saw the lead up to it.

“It just didn’t seem right, we both know our engines and right from the start something felt off.”

A board outside the club had said it was closed on Sunday for a tournament.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed it had been notified of an accident involving a glider in the Hawkes Bay today.

“We are working alongside emergency services and have investigators travelling to the scene. In the coming days our focus will be on understanding what happened and why,” the CAA said in a statement.

More to come.