'PLANE IN GALE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 1, 3 January 1933, Page 14

'PLANE IN GALE.

COOK STRAIT CROSSED. FEARS FOR PILOT'S SAFETY. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. A Moth aeroplane, owned by the Wellington Aero Club and piloted by the club'e pilot, Mr. T. Paviour Smith, was reported missing last night, but later it arrived at the Rongotai Aerodrome from Blenheim. News came from McLeod's station, Palliser Bay, near Wellington, that a safe landing had been made, the pilot being unhurt and the machine un» damaged. Mr. Smith had left the Rongotai Aerodrome in the morning for Blenheim, where he arrived safely. He left for the return journey at 0.5 p.m., and was due at 7 o'clock. As he had not arrived at 9.30 p.m., the club'e officers secured the co-operation of the radio stations to advise ships and settlers in the Marlborough Sounds district and also on the south coast of the North Island, who were asked to report to the Rongotai Aerodrome if they had seen a 'plane in their vicinity after 6 p.m. Within a quarter of an hour of the broadcast, the reassuring message came from McLeod's station. Before leaving Blenheim, the pilot was informed that visibility to Wellington was bad. He stated, however, that he ■would attempt to get over Cook Strait, but would turn back if the weather proved too bad. The conditions became rapidly worse about the time of his departure from Blenheim, and heavy rainclouds which had beeii obscuring the hilltops throughout the day became more dense, and the winds increased in violence from the north-west.