LOW-FLYING 'PLANE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 253, 26 October 1931, Page 9

LOW-FLYING 'PLANE.

WELLpTOTOM PILOT FINED

. A fine of £2, with costs 19/, was nosed in the Magistrate's .Court, at Well nngtpn\n Gavin George Wallapp whq melded guilty to a charge of flying In "evoplane "at an altitude . dMOTJJg to pijhjiq safety. It was, d the'dpfendapt had caused Ff&M? of Karori considerable alarm, and althougl) counsel who appeared fqr Wallace said that the "clapger had Bfeemed greater than it was; he admitted that, had the engine stopped, probably the defendant wo°uld not have been ablp to glide clear of the city. . Sub-Inspector Lopdell said that in the early morning (following, he understood; tlip'night of "the Aero Club ball) the der fendant and another man had gone ouf to the' aerodrome and taken their maphine out. About 8 a.m. the machine had been flying over Karori, where the defendant had a house, and it appeared to rpsidents that it' was circling over the house. It was at a very low altitude, and once it had to sharply to avoid colliding with* a macrocarpa hedge. Counsel said the defendant was a highly skillpd . flyer ? with many year 3' pxpei'ipnce. He had handled the 'plane, which was in first-class cpnditipn, with the greatest skill. A -plea of guilty was pntprpd pply it >vas pqssiblp that had thp pngine stalled pi' stpppedthe defendant might npt have been, able tp clear the pity and g|jde to a landing gi-pund- Wallacp had had to come down tp ■ a low altitude because pf plouds.