30 ENGINEERS ON REPAIRS

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28743, 14 November 1958, Page 12

30 ENGINEERS ON REPAIRS

Back In Service By Christmas

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 13.

It wa& possible the Viscount airliner will be operational again before Christmas, said hU A. Patterson, assistant to the7gC?HWfcal manager of the Corporation, today. - No decision would be therefore, on accepting an overseas aircraft for charter work during the busy htbliday season until it was known how long the Viscount would be out of service. Thirty aircraft engineers will be flown from Christchurch to Auckland on Sunday to begin working in shifts around the clock to get the damaged Viscount back in the air. They will continue working 24 hours a day until the plane is ready to fly. said the Auckland branch manager of N.A.C. (Mr G. K. Grocott) today. The engineers will come from the corporation’s special Viscount maintenance team stationed at Harewood. The R.N.Z.A.F. has undertaken to quarter the men al Whenuapai.

The time taken to repair the turbo-prop will depend on whether or not a wing to be replaced, said Mr Grocott. Of course, any structural damage discovered would have more serious consequences.

Meanwhile, an advance team of six Christchurch engineers today began stripping down the moving parts of the Viscount. With its wheels locked in position, the aircraft, except for its sadly damaged engine propellers and cowlings, looked normal as it stood in the N.A.C. hangar at Whenuapai.