"SKY PILOT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 171, 22 July 1931, Page 8

"SKY PILOT."

AERIAL AMBULANCE. ' PATIENT FOR HOSPITAL CLERGYMAN FROM GISBORNE. FAST FLIGHT TO MANGERE. t "For goodness' eake give me a - cigarette!" t This was what Canon H. Packe, a J 1 sick Gitsborne clergyman, said when he ' was taken out of an aerial ambulance which had flown him from Gisborne to Auckland this morning. Canon Packe is now being treated by a specialist .in the Auckland Hospital. For the past six weeks this well- ' • known Anglican clergyman has been an • inmate of the Gisborne Hospital. Early ■ i this week he was ordered treatment oy a specialist, but his condition made a , car journey to Auckland inadvisable for the reason that it would have taken four : " days in easy stages. It was decided to bring the patient to Auckland by air. I At 8.15 this morning a Desoutter , , Mark I. monoplane, piloted by Flighte Lieutenant W. H. Lett, left Gisborno . wit!) the sick clergyman and with Mr. R. G. Fitzgerald, a G!sT)orne man, as , passenger to look after the patient. J Three hours 20 minutes later the 'plane ~ made a perfect landing at the Mangere ; y Aerodrome. An ambulance was waiting i at the 'drome and Canon Packe was taken to the Auckland Hospital. "The conditions were very cloudy, but s I should eay that flying was ideal-.for j. 1 sick man," said the pilot. "We came ■• over the Motu Hills, but never caught 1 sight of them. Between Whakatane and ! 1 Hamilton we encountered a lot of low ' stuff and we were flying into a head • wind, but taken all round it was a good 5 trip." • - i j When it was decided to send Canon ' t Packe to Auckland, an effort was made , in Gisborne to obtain a passage on an ] j overseas liner, but this endeavour was j § frustrated because of rough seas... It was . 2 then decided to use an aeroplane. The J machine was partially converted so that the passenger could travel in the greatest comfort. . Although no stretcher could be placed - > inside the cabin of the 'plane, a com- ; t paratively comfortable bed was iin pro- ! 1 vised. Two padded benzine tins were • 2 placed alongside the pilot, so that the ' i patient, who was sitting in the back of [ e the cabin, could stretch his legs full > r length. Hot water bottles, and thick i rugs kept Mini warm, and he looked quite i comfortable when he arrived. "It was - a most enjoyable trip," he said. "I only 5 wish I could have got more kick out- of e it." It was the first time Canon Paeke s had been up in a 'plane. 1 It is believed that this is only the 3 second occasion on which a sick man has '• J been carried by an aeroplane in New ■ Zealand. Aerial ambulances are fre- '* quently used in Australia. , The type of 'plane used on the trip is ■a three-seater, high-wing, cabin monoplane, with a Hermes 11. engine. Flight- ? Lieutenant Lett is chief pilot for the '; Gisborne Air Transport Co., Ltd. -He intends to fly back to Gisborne this afternoon. "" • e