Alpine Service Begun

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31868, 21 December 1968, Page 42

Alpine Service Begun

The scheduled N.A.C. Friendship service between Christchurch and Hokitika began yesterday afternoon. More than 300 persons were waiting in bright sunshine at Hokitika Airport to welcome j the aircraft, shown above after its arrival. (Among the passengers was the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr A. R. Guthrey), who was born in Hokitika. The Mavor of Hokitika (Mr W. J. Richards) and the Mayor! of Westport (Mr W. A.| Cradock) travelled on the return flight to Christ-1 church. The Friendship left Christchurch at 1.23 p.m. and flew north parallel to the coast as it climbed. After crossing the Waimakariri River it turned westwards and as the weather was fine, flew direct to Hokitika, passing over! Arthur’s Pass National [ Park. At 1.40 p.m. the ! Friendship reached its] maximum altitude for the trip—l3,oooft. It main- 1 tained this only very briefly before beginning!

the descent. The plane] cruised at 265 miles an hour. On the return flight the aircraft had a 15-knot tail wind. This reduced the, flying time by five minutes to half an hour. The plane left Hokitika at 2.45 p.m. and landed at Christchurch at 3.15 p.m. The Friendship was com-! manded by Captain R. W. Patterson. The first offi-l cer was Mr R. F. Trowdale and the hostess Miss' Joan Gilbert, whose family lives in Kumara. Because of the light demand for freight the Friendship has been fitted with 40 seats instead of the usual 36. There were 39 passengers on the flight to Hokitika and 8151 b of freight and 731 b of mail was carried. On the return journey there were 36 passengers, 2171 b of freight and 1181 b of mail. Passengers were presented with a certificate marking the initial flight, and during the return flight passengers were given South Island Publicity Association pamphlets on the West Coast and copies of that day’s “Hokitika! Guardian," which devotedj' its front page to the new; service.