FIRST VISIT BY AIR TO FAREWELL SPIT

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28178, 17 January 1957, Page 11

FIRST VISIT BY AIR TO FAREWELL SPIT

(From Our Own Reporter)

NELSON. January 16. An aircraft landed on Farewell Spit for the first time yesterday afternoon when a Nelson Aero Ciub Piper Cub. piloted by Mr D. G. Price, with Mr N. M. McLaren as passenger, made a survey flight to the Spit. As the aircraft rolled to a stop on the firm sand above highwater mark near the lighthouse, residents of the lonely lighthouse settlement rushed out to meet the visitors.

Approval to make the survey flight had been given by the Marine Department. Mr McLaren said today that it was proposed to apply to the Civil Aviation Department to have the beach at Farewell Spit licensed as a commercial landing area This would allow the club to fly passengers to and from the lighthouse. „ The flight from Nelson airport

to the Spit took 40 minutes. Near the end of the 16-mile strip of beach of Farewell Spit, the lightnousekeepers had marked out a landing strip and erected a wind sock. The whole population oi the settlement—nine—came out to greet the visitors, who brought with them the latest newspapers. Nelson Aero Club officials consider that an air link between Nelson and Farewell Spit at the tip of the northern end of the South Island would be popular with visitors. The Spit, they say, is a place of considerable interest and is not just a barren sand strip. It is noted for its marine birdlife.

At present the only link between the Farewell Spit lighthouse and Puponga on the mainland is along the beach. On one day a week, mails and stores are taken to the lighthouse by fourwheel drive motor vehicles.