NO FORMAL INQUIRY

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24112, 23 November 1943, Page 6

NO FORMAL INQUIRY

AIRCRAFT CRASH ON GLACIER NOTICE TO AIRMEN ISSUED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, November 22. The Minister of Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) said to-day that a formal inquiry under the air navigation regulations would not be held into the accident to the Fox Moth passenger aeroplane at Franz Josef glacier on October 29. The report of the accident indicated th-.t the aircraft was in a completely airworthy condition, both the airframe and the engine having been covered by a certificate of safety for flight given on the morning of the accident by Mr J. C. Mercer, who held both current A and C ground engineer licences. The pilot. Mr O. D. Openshaw, held a pilot s B commercial licence, valid for a Fox Moth aircraft, and the only technical evidence available was that of the pilot, and that obtained from an examination of the scene of the accident and the wreckage. The officers who investigated the accident had recommended the issue of a notice to airmen drawing the attention of pilots to; (l)'the necessity for maintaining continuous observation of air speed when flying in the immediate vicinity of high mountains; (2) the most effective means of recovering flying speed in the event of such action becoming necessary; (3) the necessity for avoiding flying in close proximity to high hills on their lee side. Those recommendations, the Minister concluded, had been accepted, and a notice to airmen of that nature was being issued.