Aircraft found, but no pilot

Press, 27 October 1982, Page 1

Aircraft found, but no pilot

Hopes for the survival of a missing pilot were boosted yesterday when his crashed aircraft was found in the Dunstan Mountains.

The crew of a helicopter which joined the search for Mr Colin Whittlestone yesterday found the overturned single-engined Cessna 172 about 2 p.m. on Ndrthburn station Bkm east of Cromwell. There was no sign of the pilot. The aircraft was not badly damaged. Rescuers described it as a “survivable crash.” The co-ordinator of the Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Christchurch Airport, Mr Peter Woodrow, said it appeared that Mr Whittlestone had walked away from the crash.

Constable D. E. McTainsh. of the Cromwell police, said yesterday the aircraft was found in waist-deep snow in mountainous terrain.

"It. is very steep country. A lot of gullies, rocks — you name it. It is nearly vertical," he said.

It appeared that Mr Whittlestone had “run out of height" and had landed the aircraft by stalling it.

"It must have been a fantastic bit of flying,” he said. The main damage to the aircraft was a crumpled wing. There was blood in the snow beside the plane but there was no indication of how long Mr Whittlestone had stayed with the plane or in which direction he had gone.

Mr Whittlestone, aged 61, a Tarras farmer, has been missing since Saturday morning when he left Tarras alone in the Cessna on

a 25-minute flight to Alexandra. The air search resumed yesterday at 5 a.m. A ground party was sent into the area after the aircraft had been found. Bad weather and “nil visibility” forced the search to be called off for the day soon after 4 p.m. Bad weather has hampered rescuers since the search began on Sunday. Sixty men from Dunedin and Wanaka search and rescue organisations and local farmers will use helicopters and four-wheel-drive vehicles today in an effort to find Mr Whittlestone.