‘Plane might have been misdirected’

Press, 7 March 1983, Page 1

‘Plane might have been misdirected’

PA Levin Evidence suggested that a plane which crashed in the Tararua Ranges in September, killing three men, might have been misdirected by the various air control points along the route, said the Levin Coroner, Mr R. C. Steele.

However, conclusions about the reasons for the crash must be left to the Inspector of Air Accidents; he said at an inquest into the death of Ivan Ross Stewart, of Christchurch, and Geoffrey Graeme McGowan and Murray Murdoch McCleay, both of Invercargill.

“It seems inconceivable that a pilot of Mr McCleay’s experience would have delib-

erately flown into thick conditions in a high mountain range, where peaks rise as high as 5000 ft, when it would have been far simpler to move out into the comparatively clear weather conditions over the sea," the Coroner said. “This leads me to suggest factors outside the control of the pilot and outside the scope of this present inquiry.”

The Coroner said that the Inspector of Air Accidents would have access to additional evidence and would be able to prove more conclu-

sively the reasons for the drash. - t The Piper Aztec aircraft had left Taupo Airport on September 11 for Christchurch and Invercargill, and was reported overdue in the ranges at 4.45 p.m. A search by a civilian aeroplane and a helicopter, with the aid of a R.N.Z.A.F. aircraft, located the crash site before noon the next day. All three men were found dead. A post-mortem examination had shown that all three had died from multiple injuries suffered in the accident.