Weather delayed death flight

Press, 31 March 1989, Page 1

Weather delayed death flight

By

BARRY CLARKE

The Christchurch pilot killed in yesterday’s light aeroplane crash at Culverden had postponed the trip for three weeks because of poor flying conditions. Mr Walter Rusbridge, aged 47, an insurance assessor, and his only passenger, a Christchurch woman in her 40s, were killed instantly when, the homebuilt Zenith 200 crashed soon after take-off from the Amuri airstrip. The woman’s name was unavailable last evening. Mr Rusbridge, a amateur

pilot, had planned yesterday’s ill-fated business 'trip three weeks ago but had been grounded because of strong north-west winds and rain, his wife, Mrs Frances Rusbridge, said last evening. “He was always such a very careful flyer. He would never go out when the conditions were not very good,” she said. “We’d talked about driving up but ? he said flying was much quicker.” The aircraft, built by Mr Rusbridge about 10 years ago, plummeted to the ground from about 70m seconds after take-off on

the return flight to Christchurch soon after midday. An air accident inspector, Mr David Graham, said it appeared engine trouble might have caused the crash after a smooth take-off. He will return to the site today to continue investigations. The aircraft did not catch fire after impact. "From what we understand it took off normally. Shortly after take-off it appears to have spun in,” he said. A . witness, Mr Ron . Schat, working bn 1 * a nearby fairm, • said he was aware of trouble when

he heard the aircraft splutter. “I looked up and it just fell out of the sky,” he said.

“I rang 111 and ran over there. There was nothing Paul Gardiner (another local farmer), or I could do. “We went over and had a look. There was a lot of fuel around, we thought it might catch fire.” Mr Rusbridge had landed at Culverden about 11 a.m. to assess an insurance claim on’ a local truck for the company he worked for,' Robins M.B.S.,''Ltd. The passenger, understood not

to be connected with the company, remained at the airstrip. Mr Rusbridge was to have

made the brief trip and then return to Christchurch to celebrate his son Kenton’s thirteenth birthday. He had given his son a cassette radio as a present before leaving for work yesterday morning. Mrs Rusbridge said she never had any worries about flying with her husband-because he was “such a careful flyer.” A 10 to 12-knot north-west wind was blowing at-the tiipe of the crash.