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Metal not thought to be plane’s

Apiece of metal found on a West Coast beach this week is unlikely to have come from the 172 K Cessna aircraft which disappeared on a flight from Tekapo to Fox Glacier seven months ago, according to the inspector of air accidents in Christchurch.

Mr David Graham said the piece of aluminium alloy, measuring about 61cm by 45cm, was badly crumpled and torn in places, and had some light green paint on it. The prospector who found the piece of metal while working on a beach mining claim, about I.6km north of the Arahura rivermouth, thought it might have come from the missing aircraft which had been carrying the Turner family of Ruapehu. The metal was handed to the Hokitika police who sent it to Mr Graham in Christchurch. “I would be a little loath to confirm that it is from an aircraft because an aluminium sheet of this nature could have come from a boat structure,” Mr Graham said.

He will examine, the piece of metal further before sending it to Wellington. Extensive searches have failed to uncover any trace of the missing plane.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19840309.2.6

Bibliographic details

Press, 9 March 1984, Page 1

Word Count
191

Metal not thought to be plane’s Press, 9 March 1984, Page 1

Metal not thought to be plane’s Press, 9 March 1984, Page 1