Weather cause of crash

Press, 2 October 1981, Page 5

Weather cause of crash

Timaru reporter Weather conditions contributed to the crash of a Cessna aircraft at Cricklewood. Fairlie. on April 20. killing three people, the Coroner, Mr E. G. Bradley, found ,in the Coroner's Court at Timaru yesterday. “As we were yelling out we could hear this hissing sound coming from the damaged plane. We didn't want to go any closer, and the plane started to burn," said Bronwyn Joy O’Sullivan, of Cricklewood Road. Fairlie, at the inquest. Mr Bradley said that it seemed that the major cause of the tragedy was the sudden change in weather, which the pilot. Mr James Evan O'Neill, aged 36, a farmer, of Lawrence, had attempted to safeguard himself against by checking the conditions when stopping at the Timaru Airport. Mr Bradley returned verdicts in accordance with

medical evidence by the pathologist at Timaru Hospital, Dr L. A. Faigan.

He determined that Mr O’Neill died from traumatic rupture of the heart and aorta and the multiple fracture of the skull sustained when . the aircraft he was flying crashed into the ground. Mr O'Neill’s son. David Arthur John O'Neill, aged six, died from shock and asphyxia caused by inhalation of vomitus after abdominal trauma and therma- bums, and Karen Elizabeth Duncan, aged 27, of Dunedin, from traumatic ■rupture of the heart and aorta. Mrs O'Sullivan told the Court that about 9 a.m. on April 20 an aircraft was flying round for approximately five minutes and it appeared that it was going to land near the house. The weather had clouded in. “As it approached the trees at the back of the house the plane stalled and

then restarted." said Mrs O'Sullivan. She was then outside the house. Her husband was behind her and she yelled out to him to telephone the ambulance and the police. "At that stage I heard a crash which was a sickly thud," she said. She raced up the hill with a friend just behind her. She went to the right-hand side of the aircraft. positioning herself about nine metres away. “I was looking into the plane to see if there was any sign of life. We could see a male sitting with his body lying on the right side of the cockpit. We yelled out: ‘Are you there, are you all right?’ There was no response," said the witness. She did not see anyone else in the cockpit. When the aircraft began to burn they had thought, “some explosion." and “backed off in a hurry." Others had arrived and it was agreed that there was nothing they could do. The aircraft had crashed about 91m from the house.

The area is undulating and fenced and the trees the plane had to clear were about 21m high.

Robert Earl Wederall, a flight service officer at the Timaru Airport at Levels, said that at 8.01 a.m. he received a flight plan for the aircraft. It had left Dunedin at 7.46 a.m. and it landed at Timaru at 8.34 a.m. The pilot told him that he had telephoned Fairlie and the weather there was clear. “He said he would go and have a look, follow the river and, if the cloud got too low, he would turn back.” said Mr Wederall. The Cessna took off at 8.47 a.m. and he had no radio communication with the aircraft after it took off.

Evidence also was given by Barbara Grace Bettridge. who runs a cafeteria at the airport, and Constable B. A. Esler, of Timaru. He was on duty when he received a call on the radio from the Fairlie police. Sergeant J. D. Burrell represented the police.