Pilot’s coolness averts disaster

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33527, 7 May 1974, Page 1

Pilot’s coolness averts disaster

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, May 6.

A self-effacing pilot may have saved the lives of his four passengers when he landed his light aircraft on one wheel after the aircraft’s undercarriage failed at Wellington this morning.

The pilot manoeuvred the brandnew aircraft for more than 2000 yards along the runway before it stopped in a shower of sparks and rubber.

None of the passengers was injured. The pilot, Captain Murray Turley, later described the landing as “normal.” However, another pilot who was waiting to take off, Mr D. Yerex, described Captain Turley’s efforts as magnificent. “The way that man brought that plane in was extremely impressive — in fact it was magnificent,” he said. “I know if I had been faced with the same situation I would have put it straight into the deck.” TWO SWEEPS Mr Yerex said he heard Captain Turley, who was in a Capital Air Services Cessna 402. make two sweeps over the airport and each time ask the control tower if his undercarriage was down. "Everyone on the ground seemed to think both wheels were down correctly but the pilot was dubious about the right wheel.” he said. "Because of that he decided to put the aircraft down on one wheel and to do it he literally had to jockey the plane on to and alone the tarmac. “Before it landed he got the passengers on to the left hand side of the plane so he could work on the controls even harder to keep it stable. “MOST IMPRESSIVE” "He was extremely lucky there was no turbulence, but to see a plane put down on one wheel like that and run 2000 yards along the runway was most impressive.”

The airport emergency services were put on full alert as soon as Captain Turley said he intended landing, and crash firemen, Wellington Fire Brigade appliances and ambulances stood by as the aircraft approached the tarmac. Captain Turley, who is general manager of Capital Air Services, was flying from Blenheim to Wellington. The pilot said later: “I told the passengers (three men and a woman) that we were having problems, and they were a bit jellied in the knees. “However, on the whole they took it remarkably well. 20 M.P.H. "I decided to land after we had been over the airport for about half an hour and I then made a normal landing approach. “The aircraft remained on its legs till the end of the landing run. “We were then doing

about 20 miles an hour when the landing gear collapsed completely and the aircraft slowly turned in a circle off the edge of the runway on to the grass.” Captain Turley, a pilot for 19 years, said he had never been involved in an emergency landing before. “And to think we’ve had the aircraft only a month makes you annoyed inside,” he said. The airport manager, Mr J. H. Redstone, said the mishap had closed the airport for an hour and several flights had been affected. AIRPORT CLOSED “We have to leave aircraft that have been involved in emergency landing procedures as they are until they are inspected by someone from the Department of Civil Aviation,” he said. The airport was closed to traffic between 10.30 and 11.30 and three flights were cancelled as a result of the crash. An Auckland to Wellington flight was held at Palmerston North and a flight from Taupo was diverted there as well.