AUSTRALIAN AIR MAIL

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 93, 21 April 1931, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN AIR MAIL

LINER BADLY DAMAGED QUESTION OF DELIVERY United Press Association—By Electric Tcleeraph—Copyright, SYDNEY, SOth April. A mesage from Batavia states that the City of Cairo crashed' four kilometres from Kocpang owing to lack of benzine. The landing wheels and side engines were damaged beyond repair. Negotiations are proceeding between Australian National Airways and Imperial Airways, which probably will result in Air-Commodore Kingsford Smith going to Koepang iv tho Southern Cross to pick up tho City of Cairo's mails and bring them on to Australia. The 450 miles' Timor Sea flight is considered too hazardous for the singleengined Quantas 'planes. The neighbourhood of the crash is heavily-timbered country in which a big aeroplane would find the greatest difficulty in landing. Some of the ground prepared for aviation is only fit for light craft. SHOBTAGE OF PETROL. A later message from Koepang states that the City of Cairo's pilots, when interviewed, said that from Soemba Island to Koepang they were flying against head winds and wore obliged to reduce speed from 80 to 70 miles an hour. Near Koepaug they found their petrol running short, so they headed for a place three miles from the town which looked like a grass field, but, unfortunately, under tho grass were sharp stones and rocks, which caused the smash. The Deputy-Postmastcr-Geueral in Sydney, referring to the air-mail crash at Koepang, Baid that the experimental flights with mails to Australia had been planned by Imperial Airways, and 'the responsibility for completing tho flight was now with that company. The local agents for Imperial Airways expect to receive instructions from London to-night as to whether the Southern Cross will bo engaged to bring the mails across the Timor Sea to Darwin, where a Quantas 'piano will connect.