Signal to DC8 still mystery
(N.Z. Press Association)
WELLINGTON, March 17.
With one test to be made, Ministry of Transport staff remain baffled about the beacon fault which caused a DCB airliner virtually to skim rooftops in the Wellington suburb of Newlands last September.
The Ministry has been attempting to trace the fault for seven months.
The director of Civil Aviation (Mr I. F. B. Walters) said today that no definite fault in the beacon had been found. A full report on the investigation would be released when the final test was completed. “I doubt that this final test will trace the problem at the beacon,” Mr Walters said.
He declined to specify the nature of the latest tests, and indicated that he was reluctant to discuss the subject. "I hope to be able to release a full report on the investigation very soon,” he said. “There have been some problems which have stopped me from making a statement earlier.” The Newlands beacon, on the northern approach to Rongotai Airport, gave a false signal when the DCB was making a landing approach. A preliminary report by the Ministry said the Air New Zealand airliner was 3km north of the beacon when it indicated that the airliner was directly overhead.
The aircraft consequently began its descent too early and was 60m above the houses in mist and rain when the mistake was noticed. The DCB was on a flight from Christchurch to Fiji via Wellington with 20 passengers aboard at the time ot the incident. Air New Zealand suspended the flight commander. Captain D. Nichol, and th*
first officer, Mr L. Davidge. after the incident. Both were demoted, and did 'not fly again till early Jahuary after attending retraining seminars. Both men now flv as first officers. Chess. —East German grandmaster Wolfgang Uhlmann beat Rafael Vagauyan (Soviet Union) in a 13th round adjourned match in an international chess tournament in Skopje, Yugoslavia. Uhlmann is now only half a point behind the leader, the world champion Anatoly Karpov (Soviet Union).
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34105, 18 March 1976, Page 18
Word Count
338Signal to DC8 still mystery Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34105, 18 March 1976, Page 18
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