LOSS OF TWO PLANES

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27657, 13 May 1955, Page 7

LOSS OF TWO PLANES

FINDINGS OF R.N.Z.A.F. INQUIRIES (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, May 12. The Minister of Defence (Mr T. L. Macdonald) today released the findings of the courts of inquiry that recently investigated two fatal accidents in the Royal New Zealand Air Force. One of the accidents involved a Devon aircraft that crashed in the Tararuas and the second a Mustang that disappeared while on a routine training flight from Whenuapai and is believed to have crashed into the sea. The court found the prime cause of the accident to the Devon was the descent of the aircraft below safety height. A contributory cause was considered to be the fact that the aircraft, because the wind was stronger than forecast, drifted beyond the area selected for instrument-flying practice. The Air Department had said that the area selected, although considered by the court to be not entirely suitable. had been in use for instrumentflying practice for some years. In the opinion of the court, in spite of the aids available to the crew, an accurate check of the plane’s position was not maintained, which resulted in the descent being made unknowingly in a mountainous area. The Mustang aircraft from Whenuapai was on a training flight which included a low-flying exercise and aerobatic practice. There was no evidence to suggest that the aircraft was unserviceable, or that the pilot acted other than in accordance with instructions. The pilot was fully competent to carry out the exercises detailed. Both the sighting of flotsam and oil in the sea and the finding on a beach of part of a life-jacket similar to that worn by the pilot suggested that the aircraft crashed into the sea. In the absence of wreckage and eye-witnesses, the cause of the crash must remain undetermined.