"LOST HIS HEAD"

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 15, 28 October 1932, Page 6

"LOST HIS HEAD"

PILOT OF CRASHED 'PLANE.

DISREGARDED ROUTE INSTRUCTIONS.

UNRELIABLE IN EMERGENCY. (For Press Association). WELLINGTON, This Day. An inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of the two airmen, F. Gresser and G. B. W. Ring, was held to-day. After hearing the evidence of Squad-ron-Leader G. L. Stedman (Instructor to the Wellington Aero Club), Constable Tocker, of Johnsonville, Captain G. Bolt (Assistant-Instructor) and Mr A. W. Nisbet (secretary to the Club), the Coroner (Mr Gilbertson) returned a verdict that the men sustained fatal injuries when their aeroplane crashed into a hill which was obscured on account of foggy atmospheric conditions.

It was one of those unfortunate accidents that happen in flying. The pilot in this case had apparently taken a chance. He should have followed the instructions of Captain Bolt regarding the route, but he had not done so and had flown into the hills at a terrific rate and both men had been killed instantaneously.

In the course of his evidence, Squad-ron-Leader Stedman .said he considered that Gresser was a sale enough pilot in good weather, but he would be rather unreliable in the case or an extreme emergency. Squadron-Leader Stedman mentioned that the weather conditions were all right from Paekakariki north, but between there and Wellington the clouds were low, particularly at Johnsonville, where they were right on top of the hills. Three other aeroplanes had got through from New Plymouth, but had crossed the range of hills farther north and had flown down the Hlutt Valley. Squad-ron-Leader Stedman said there was no occasion for Gresser to have gone into the clouds.

Captain Bolt stated that he landed at Wanganui and met Gresser, who was then waiting for a better weather report from Wellington. ~ Witness told him to wait at Palmerston North until witness rang him from Wellington after he got through. Witness got in touch with Gresser at Palmerston North and told him he had got through quite easily into Upper Hutt. The actual crossing of the hills was made over a low saddle where the Moonshine Road goes. Witness told Gresser to try that route and if he could not get through there to try the usual route, and if he could not get through there to come down the coast. Grosser was bound under the rules of the club to follow witness's instructions. He also told Gresser that if he got into any difficulty to return to Levin. Witness, to the' Coroner, said it was quite all right for Gresser to come down the Johnsonville route, but he could not understand him flying into the clouds. When Mr Nisbet, secretary of the Aero Club, was proposed as a witness, the Coroner remarked that he was satisfied the club was not to blame in any way. It seemed to him the man was an' embryo flyer, did not know enough, and lost, his head. After Mr Nisbet had given evidence, the Coroner said that no doubt the officials of the club had done all in their power to give the flyers information as to the weather conditions and the right course to take and subsequently 'ind them.