Floatplane Lands On Kaiapoi River

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31863, 16 December 1968, Page 1

Floatplane Lands On Kaiapoi River

The Mayor of Kaiapoi (Mr H. O. Hills) was one of the first to welcome the pilot of a floatplane which landed on the Kaiapoi River near the Kaiapoi bridge on Saturday afternoon.

Piloted by Mr W. K. Wakeman, the floatrigged Piper Super Cub had earlier been launched from the deck of a fast-moving truck at Christchurch Airport. The aircraft had been converted to a floatplane at the workshops of Airwork (N.Z.), Ltd, at Christchurch Airport. “I would like to congratulate Mr Wakeman on his achievement,” said Mr Hills. Crs.B. Williams and W. Bell were with Mr Hills to welcome Mr Wakeman and hundreds of holiday motorists stopped to see the floatplane moored near the Kaiapoi bridge at the week-end. The floatplane . handled beautifully, said the chief flying instructor of the Christchurch Central Flying School, Mr J. Reid, who test flew the aircraft at Lake Forsyth after the take-off. Messrs Wakeman and Reid

made a number of experimental runs with the floatplane on the truck on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. As soon as the wind became suitable on Saturday afternoon, the floatplane took off from the deck of the truck smoothly. At the airport the launching provoked great interest. A giant Starlifter, which was about to take off signalled that it would wait for the floatplane on the truck to make its run first. When the floatplane made its run the pilot of the Starlifter was seen taking movie films from a hatch on the aircraft but there was insufficient wind for a take off at that time. The Regional Operations Officer for the Civil Aviation Division, Mr H. Skilling, was present during the trials and the take-off at the airport Mr Reid acted as contact between Mr Wakeman in the aircraft and the driver of the truck, Mr I. Walls, of Kaia-

poi, to make sure the truck’s speed and direction were suitable. Mr Wakeman was under directions from'the aircontroller in the tower throughout “The floatplane handled very well in the air and in landings and take-offs at Lake Forsyth,” said Mr Wakeman. USE OF PLANE The aircraft was intended primarily to evaluate the use of a plane of this type, but it could be used in search and rescue work and assisting in shark patrols, said Mr Wakeman.

The Central Flying School would be glad to hear from sportsmen and fishermen about lake and beauty spots which had potential, as flyingfishing camps, he said. Suitable aircraft for use in reaching fishing camps would be a six-seater Cessna 185 or 206 amphibious aircraft At Kaiapoi a temporary permit would have to be issued for the floatplane to be on the river, said Mr Hills.

; It was proposed that river hardens would make sure that safety precautions were observed and see that no hidden objects endangered the aircraft during landing or takeoff.