FLIGHT IN GALE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 286, 3 December 1930, Page 7

FLIGHT IN GALE.

MRS. MILLER'S STORY. Compass Went Wrong and Fuel Was Short. EXPERTS PUZZLED. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 10 a.m.) NEW YORK, December 2. Mrs. Keith Miller, telling the story of her forced landing on Andros Island, in the Bahamas, when en route from Havana to Pittsburgh, states that she encountered a terrific gale which blew her off her course somewhere between Havana and the mainland. "Then the compass went wrong," she added, "and I flew for seven hours looking for a place to land. My fuel supply began to run low and I got 'panicky. , "I did not know whether I was over the Mexican Gulf or over the Atlantic, and it was a .fearful relief .when I saw a spot of land. I thought it was Florida, but it was a village called Kenp's Bay, in Andros Island. "There was a terrific wind blowing at the time, but I came down with a full motor, stalled her, then 'pancaked' into thick bushes. " I looked over the 'plane and found her O.K.- Then I started to walk and I walked all night. It was 16 miles to the first telegraph station.

"The road I traversed was the rockiest I have ever seen, my feet were blistered and I was mighty tired." Mrs. Miller hopes to fly to Miami on Tuesday. The Nassau agent of the PanAmerican Airways has wirelessed a request to Miami for for the machine. , Captain Lancaster, Mrs. Miller's flying partner, is to leave Miami early to-day in a chartered aeroplane with a mechanic and fuel. Aviation experts are puzzled as to why Mrs. Miller ended her flight in the Bahamas. The assumption would be! that she was blown eastward, but aviators say the winds- on Friday blew strongly from tho east.