Aircraft Could Not Fly Out Of Basin

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30342, 18 January 1964, Page 17

Aircraft Could Not Fly Out Of Basin

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 17. The crash of an Auster aircraft in the Craigieburn range on August 4 became inevitable when the pilot flew into a position from which escape was impossible, says a report released by the Air Department.

The accident, in which the passenger, Kenneth George Howe Brownlee, aged 30, of Bangor, Northern Ireland, was killed, resulted directly from loss of control when the aircraft stalled in a steep, climbing turn, says the report.

The pilot, Alexander Keith Whitfield, aged 33, of Christchurch, was seriously injured. The accident was basically initiated by the decision of the pilot to enter Allan’s basin, a terrain he did not know intimately, says the report.

From accounts of witnesses, it was clear that shortly after he entered the basin the pilot realised it was a cul-de-sac and that he would have to turn round to escape from it.

Speed Too Low

The nature of the turn led to the disaster. It was made at a steep angle of bank in an excessive nose-up attitude and at a comparatively low forward speed. The maximum power from the engine was insufficient to prevent the aircraft from stalling and going into a vertical dive. There was not enough height to enable the pilot to recover from the dive before the aircraft struck the ground. The area of the crash con-

sisted of two deep, narrow basins, separated by a sharp narrow ridge, at the bottom of which is the North Canterbury Ski Club’s lodge. The aircraft had made circuits to allow Brownlee to take photographs and each circuit was made a little lower.