Forced landing near upper Waimakariri

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32560, 20 March 1971, Page 18

Forced landing near upper Waimakariri

For more than an hour last evening a light Piper aircraft, running low on fuel and with four persons on board, circled above Christchurch fruitlessly seeking a gap in the thick layer of cloud through which it might descend to land.

Shortly before nightfall it was guided through the cloud by a Mount Cook Airlines aircraft and landed without further incident in a paddock near the Upper Waimakariri Gorge. The drama began when the Piper’s pilot had radioed' the control tower at Christchurch Airport at 5.35 p.m. i asking for assistance. i The aircraft was flying at i 8500 ft above a layer of cloud i 3000 ft thick. Radar checks showed that a Hawker Siddeley 748 air-' craft, owned by Mount Cook Airlines, Ltd, flying from Mount Cook to Christchurch,

was in the area and the pilot was asked to see if. he could find a gap in the cloud. A small gap was found in the Upper Waimakariri and the 748 guided the Piper through it and circled while the Piper landed. The 748 then returned to Christchurch where it refuelled for a flight from Christchurch to Timaru and Oamaru. One of the passengers for this flight who was kept at Christchurch Airport for half an hour by the delay . was the Prime Minister (Sir Keith Holyoake). The Department of Civil Aviation will hold an inquiry into the incident.