A Mount Maunganui man says he is getting short shrift from Air New Zealand when he asks how one of its planes came to shower his wife in something smelling strongly of human excrement.

Mike McCarthy's wife Marion was having lunch on the patio of the couple's Hibiscus Avenue home on Saturday when a plane flew overhead – followed by a brief, smelly shower.

Mike McCarthy inspects suspicious specks on his barbecue cover.

'As it came over this stuff came down from the aeroplane. Little globules of stuff and both my neighbour and my wife, she got it over herself and over her clothes. She washed them all and noticed a very strong excrement smell.”

The five by five metre patio was liberally sprinkled, as was the table, the food and Marion, who immediately showered, and continued to complain about the strong smell, says Mike.

They photographed the droplets and wrapped the food before storing it. Mike then tried to contact Air NZ but is frustrated with their lack of response.

'I've been trying to get hold of Air NZ, I rang the manager here, they just do not want to know anything about it. I said ‘Come and have a look' but he says they are not bothered, not interested.

'I've contacted CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] and they are looking at it. I've rung Air NZ in Auckland. They are saying it couldn't be from an aeroplane.”

The suspect aircraft is a Bombadier Q300 on climb-out from Tauranga en route to Auckland. Air NZ flight NZ8230 departed Tauranga terminal for Auckland on Saturday about 12.45pm, which would place it over Hibiscus Ave a few minutes later, depending how long it took to taxi out to the end of the runway.

Mike says the plane flew over their home at 12.55pm.

Both the CAA and Air NZ have suggested to Mike the shower was most likely from overhead ducks – a common seasonal occurrence.

Mike is rubbishing the thought, saying he has spent many years hunting and knows what duck poo smells like.

'I contacted Environment BOP [now the Bay of Plenty Regional Council]. They don't want to know anything about because they don't control the air.”

Mike believes a similar incident happened last week on Oceanbeach Road.

CAA contact manager corporate communications Mike Richards says there is definitely a seasonal element to the complaint. It is the time of year when ducks fly high, he says.

'And they do unfortunately offload. It happens every year.

'We are just checking to make sure it's not an isolated occurrence. If it is, then obviously that makes it something else. If there are a number of these have been happening then it's probably quite consistent with the seasonal issue.

'We are just checking these [complaints] out now. I believe he kept some residue. We are definitely following that through to make sure there is nothing to be concerned about.”

He says the complaint will be treated like an aviation related concern, and followed up to make sure there is no residing problem.

'The issue for us is if there is something wrong with an aircraft we want to get it fixed.”

Remnants of what Mike believes is faecal matter dropped from an overhead Air NZ flight.