Pilot Explains Aircraft’s Bump

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30742, 5 May 1965, Page 5

Pilot Explains Aircraft’s Bump

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, May 4.

A freak of nature was blamed for the aerial bump suffered by the Canadian Pacific Airlines Britannia, flying into Fiji, the pilot, Captain J. Wells, said in Auckland.

Two crew members and one passenger were slightly injured when the airreaft hit “a sudden hole in the air" 100 miles north of Nandi, early yesterday morning. ”1 was giving a commentary on the journey when it came,” said Captain Wells. “Usually, we get an indication of this sort of thing from slight turbulence, or we can pick it up on our radar, but this time there was nothing.” ft was the "first time he had experienced such an abrupt turbulence in his 19 years with C.P.A., during which time he has recorded some 14,000 flying hours. "We were flying on the automatic pilot, about 16,000 feet, at a speed about 360 miles an hour,” said Captain Wells.

“The safety device on the automatic pilot worked, and the control came back into my hands. We dropped a little, but it wasn’t much. “After steadying the aircraft, we went back on to automatic pilot, and I continued talking to the passengers to let them know that the crew was all right,” he said.

Captain Wells said he went into the passenger cabin and spoke to all the passengers individually. A radio message

was sent on to Nandi, requesting a doctor to meet the aircraft.

"The passengers were seen by the doctor before leaving the aircraft." he said. "We also had a turbulence check made on the aircraft, but there was no damage.” AH the duty crew were wearing seat-belts. “If we had felt any slight turbulence, the passengers would have been told to fasten their seat-belts,” said Captain Wells. ‘The result was that some of the 20 passengers were thrown forward.” Six were treated for minor injuries before the aircraft continued its flight to New Zealand, two hours behind schedule.

Captain Wells said the navigator and purser were not essential for the whole of the journey and would either fly to Auckland by Air New Zealand, or would be picked up on the return flight on Friday. . He has been flying the New Zealand route since 1956 and in Britannias for three years. “This was just a once-in-a-lifetime freak of nature,” he said.