Pilot’s body found

Press, 28 October 1982, Page 1

Pilot’s body found

The body of a missing pilot was found half-buried in snow yesterday, about 1.6 kilometres away from his crashed aircraft in the Dunstan Mountains of Central Qtago. He was Colin Whittlestone, aged 61, a farmer, of Tarras. Mr Whittlestone had been heading towards the Crom-well-Tarras highway but still had Bkm or more to go across steep, broken country and snow up to thigh-depth, the police said. A spokesman said that there were no visible signs of injury on the body, which was found about 11.40 a.m. yesterday during an all-out effort by more than 180 searchers. Mr Whittlestone had left Tarras on Saturday morning for a 25-minute flight to Alexandra. Searchers believe that his single-engined Cessna 172 “ran out of height” about

1350 metres (4500 ft up in the Dunstan Mountains, east of Cromwell, and that he crashlanded it skilfully heading up a gully. The Cessna flipped on to its back, but was not badly damaged

Bad weather hindered would-be rescuers, and the aircraft was not found until Tuesday. It was not known how long Mr Whittiestone had stayed with the machine, which was lying in waistdeep snow. More than 180 searchers, including members of the Federated Mountain Clubs, police, farmers, and local volunteers went into the area yesterday morning. Searchers were equipped with avalanche probes, but thawing snow revealed Mr Whittlestone’s body in the Quartz Reef Creek, about I.6km from the crash site. It was recovered by helicopter. Search criticised, Page 6