SCOTLAND'S LUCK FIRST WELLINGTON FLIGHT ENDS IN DISASTER.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 72, 26 March 1914, Page 3

SCOTLAND'S LUCK FIRST WELLINGTON FLIGHT ENDS IN DISASTER.

The first flight of an aeroplane in Wellington and its disastrous ' end in the wreck of the machine in the trees of Newfcown Park wa6 briefly .recorded in yesterday's Poet, having occurred just as the paper was going to press. The aviator, Mr. J. W. H. Scotland, the young New Zealander who with his achievements in the South Island had made his reputation as an airman, took his Caudron biplane up from Athletic Park' shortly after a quarter past 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon. After a ehort, sharp, sensational and spectacular struggle with the treacherous wind he was beaten down into the hollow between Newfcown and Wakefield Parks. He strove valiantly by all means in the power of an aviator to get out of his perilous predicament, but the downward currents, eddies, and remous were too much for likn, and finding it impossible to clear the tops of the trees and land in Newtown Park as he intended, he chose, with gTeat judgment, the next best course, and drove his machine neatly between two pines on the crest of the ridge, and. saved hie life at the expense of his plane. AIRMAN PRACTICALLY UNINJURED. It was all over in five minutes, and by the time the crowd, rushing over the clay pits from Athletic Park, had reached the scene of the disaster, Scotland had already descended the nearest tree to earth, and. was standing pale and shaken, 'but etfll smiling and undismayed. His injuries were chiefly a sprained hand and wrist through clutching the control lever when the collision with the trees took place, and bruised knee-caps where his knees had dented the petrol tank in front of him with the force of impact. His head struck the front of th» nacelle in which he sat, but his padded airmail's helmet took off the worst of the shock, and undoubtedly saved him a severe concussion. He was exceedingly lucky to get off with life and limb, as he just missed the roof aud chimneys of a house in llussell-terrace. and cleared the telephone and electric light wiTes by inches. He was conveyed by the Hon. T. W. Hielop, one of the principal members of the syndicate which was conducting the eeries of flights through the country, in his car to town, where his injuries received attention and his hand was bound up. He felt his brumes more afterwards, but was able to be present at The Kinge Theatre late in the evenf&g, when a kinematograph film of the flight was shown. CAUSE OF THE MISHAP. The' cause of the disaster lay simply in the impossible conditions under which the aviator had to fly. It was obvious to every spectator as soon as tlie machine cleared the bank out of the Athletic Park t*iat Scotland was in for an exceedingly rough passage, if nothing worse. His machine rose sluggishly, not with ita usual quick-climb-ing powers. The head wind itself was uofc particularly strong— from ten to twenty miles an hour probably — but it was a wind utterly treacherous, being broken by the surrounding hills into descending currents, eddies, and puffs, so that it gave a comparatively hght low-powered machine like the 35 h.p. Anzani-Caudron biplane that Scotland flew practically never a chance. Even a big-powered machine, like the 80 h.p.-Unoiue-Bleriot monoplane Hammond flew in Auckland, would have found ithard to climb out of the hollow of the hills to the comparative safety of the upper air It was tlnr Scotland tried to do all the time. He tried to lift his machine 1 up above the hills, but he was flying into the most dangerous of all winds — a head wind pouring over and down a bander of hills in front< of him. He never rose above 300 feet, and it was only with the greatest effort by manipulating the controls that he was able to keep from being swept down on the close-packed roofs below. He found the wind out towards Duppastreet worse than anywhere, and he was very nearly capsized before he could turn and try the shelter of the hills at the back of Newtown Park. OUT OF THE FRYING-PAN . Here he ran — so to speak — out of the frying-pan into the fire, but the hollow in* the elbow of the hills about Newtown Park and South Wellington was simply a maelstrom of eddies. He was tossed about in an alarming fashion. It was a sensation one would never wish to feel again as one watched Scotland gallantly endeavouring to save his aircratt from the rocks in the fatal abyss underneath. The aeroplane danced and dived and bobbed and rolled more like a kite than a .flying machine. The worst dip came near the edge of Newtown Park, where the south-easterly breeze coming over' the trees made a frightful downward cataract of the air. Here the Caudron dived and side-slipped sharply to the left. Scotland yanked her up with a supreme effort in the control lever and missed the house-tops by a' few feet- He strove to lift her over the trees, but finding it impossible drove her lower down to avoid being capsized by the topmost branches. By a singular combination of luck and judgment he struck the right place and lodged his plane exactly between two pines about twenty feet off the ground, the plane itself being quite horizontal and the nacelle and engine quite uninjured. The propeller was smashed to matchwood and the extremities of the wings and the skids and longitudinals utterly crumpled up to a wreck of canvas, wire, and wood. SCOTLAND'S INTENTIONS. Mr. Scotland is an unassuming man who does not talk much about his performances except in their technical aspects. He feels the loss of his ,«*• chine very much, as it has cost km* nearly £1000 to bring her out here as a certificated pilot. The damage done yesterday he estimates at not less than £400. Still, he is glad that he has kept faith with the public of Wellington, which has been inclined, he felt, to doubt his ability, after so many disappointments. He was keen to fly on the only really safe days since he has been here—Sunday afternoon and Monday morning — and he is quite sure that had he only been permitted to go up then he would have given a display over Wellington quite equal to his flying feats in the ' South. With better luck he might even have escaped yesterday, but he declares that Wellington is quite one of the worst places in the world to fly in when the weather is what it normally is here. At the present Mr. Scotland has no definite intentions as to his next movements. The machine is, of course, a mere mass of wreckage, and Mr. Scotland does not think it could be rebuilt satisfactorily here, therefore the engine cannot be used for that purpose. It is in perfect order and was working well through the flight. Mr. Scotland's financial loss is so severe that he does not know what to do at present. He is very keen to get out another machine with about twice the horse-power in the engine, so tha^jhe will have something to combat the winds with, but he cannot possibly afford the expense. The whole burden of the loss of the machine falls on him, as it was not insured, and it is understood, not guaranteed by the syndicate. Sympathy will be felt by all New Zealanders' for M&. Scotland in hip stroke of iJHujsk, " ~