PLANE WRECK FOUND IN KAIKOURAS

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31941, 19 March 1969, Page 1

PLANE WRECK FOUND IN KAIKOURAS

No Sign Of Five Men Aboard

The wreck of a twin-engined Piper Apache which was overdue on a flight from Christchurch to Wellington early yesterday morning was seen 900 ft below the summit of a steep 3600 ft hill six miles west of the Clarence River mouth by the pilot of a searching Royal New Zealand Air Force Devon at 4 p.m. yesterday. There were no signs of life.

Just after dark last evening, an Army doctor from Blenheim was lowered from a Nelson helicopter to the aircraft, lying on its back. The doctor had no radio with him. The helicopter pilot, Mr J. Reid, also saw no sign of survivors.

The Piper Apache hit the top of one ridge and catapulted into another, and then slid down a 70 degree slope into scrub, said Mr Reid last evening. He coull see pieces of the aircraft on both ridges. There were no signs of fire.

One search party is expected to reach the crash scene at 1.30 a.m. tods.y. Sixty other searchers, a helicopter and light aircraft were expected to begin moving in at first light. The aircraft was piloted by Brear Warren Boyd-Clark, aged about 33, married, of Marsh Road, Southbrook. He

is the principal of Aztec Air, Ltd, which owns the Apache. The four passengers are William Lyall Harris jun., a bus proprietor, married, of School Road, Tai Tapu. George Victor Hauschild, a milk tanker driver, of Lincoln Highway, Tai Tapu.

Brian Stuart Aitchison, a farm manager, married, of Springston. George Edward Healey, an agricultural contractor, married, of Tai Tapu. •

There are five children in the Harris family and two in each of the other four families.

The four passengers had been employed on a casual assignment, to collect motorvehicles from Wellington for Mr G. F. Rhodes, who runs a second-hand truck firm in Blenheim Road. The Apache left for Wellington at 7.12 a.m. and was due there at 8.32 a.m. The last message from the plane was at 7.46 a.m., when it was near the Clarence River, about 20 miles north of Kaikoura. The message gave no indication of trouble and Mr Boyd-Clark gave his esti-

mated time of arrival over Cape Campbell as 8 a.m. Low cloud north of Kaikoura delayed the start of the air search.

The Apache was seen by Flight Lieutenant F. H.

Roach, flying a Devon aircraft from the R.N.Z.A.F. base at Wigram. It was on a hill facing west towards the Wharekiri Stream, which flows into the Clarence River. The aircraft was near the top of a creek which flows down the hill into the Wharekiri Stream. The area is on the Middle Hill station, and the runholder, Mr G. King, set off for the wreck with three men about 6.15 pun. Another party of four men gathered at the homestead and set off about 7 p.m.

In the meantL e, the helicopter piloted by Mr Reid from the Central Flying School, was flying from Nelson with the Army doctor and Sergeant A. P. Barber, of the Blenheim police. A Canterbury Aero Club Cherokee, flow- by the club captain (Mr C. J. Collings), left Christchurch at 6.15 p.m. with Sergeant R. G. Cook, Mr J. Murphy, a search field controller, and Mr G. Bradshaw, a radio operator. It carried two email radios and a base radio. Four-mile Tramp Mr King’s two rescue parties had about a four-mile tramp, over steep, scrubby, but open country from the homestead to the scene of the crash, about a mile east of a hut at the junction of Wharekiri Stream and Limestone Creek. Two parties of rescuers left Kaikoura, up the Seaward Valley Road, and then along a jeep track to the hut A steep climb in darkness lay before them. Field bases, with radios, were being set up at the Middle Hill homestead and the hut at the junction of the two streams, as the rescue parties moved in from two directions Mr King said last evening that at least 50 men were making his station their headquarters. The search parties returned to the station about 9 p.m. after heading off on the wrong ridge. “Fog Was Thick” At the time of the eftsh Mr King was mustering with two men. They were at 2500 ft or 3000 ft when they heard the aircraft overhead. “It sounded fairly loud,” Mr King said. “Then there was nothing, and I remember hoping that it hadn’t come down. The fog was so thick you couldn’t see five yards ahead.”

Mr King said it was not until midday that they knew the plane had come down. He said the assembled parties were ready to set out again at daybreak. Originally the crashed Apache belonged to Golden Coast Airways, Ltd. It was later bought by Airwqrk (N.Z.), Ltd, which sold it to R.A.O. Traders, Ltd, of Tauranga. Mr Boyd-Clark bought it for his newly formed Aztec Air late last year. On February 6 this year

Aztec Air inaugurated its air taxi and scenic charter services from Rangiora airfield. Airwork (N.Z.), Ltd, had been granted an air-service licence to run flights from Rangiora, and was using the Apache for this service under long-term charter from Aztec Air, Ltd.