LANDING IN WATER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 51, 2 March 1937, Page 10

LANDING IN WATER

PARACHUTIST'S JUMP

PROMPT RESCUE BY BOAT

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, March 1,

Leaping from an aeroplane flying at about 1500 feet over the upper harbour at Hobsonvillc, a young man being tested for a parachutist's licence misjudged his distance and landed in deep water about 100 yards from the shore. He was promptly rescued by a boat -•belonging to the Royal New Zealand Air Force base at Hobsonville, and suffered no ill-effects.

The parachutist was Mr. L. A. Haywood, of Wellington, and formerly of Hamilton, who had come to Auckland to make his first parachute jump, with a view to qualifying and taking up parachute-jumping professionally. Mr. Haywood made a jump from a machine flown by Flight-Lieutenant W. H. Lett. Instead of pulling the rip-cord as soon as he was clear of the aeroplane, Mr. Haywood made a delayed drop, and it is estimated he fell nearly 1000 ft before he opened his parachute at a comparatively low altitude, at which his fall.was arrested. Mr. Haywood was not carried by the wind over the flying field, but landed instead in the water.

The contact with the surface was gentle as the parachute had functioned perfectly, and Mr. Haywood's descent was slow. Just before he touched he pulled the parachute sideways so that it would not envelop him and perhaps cause him to become entangled, and for half a minute he floated easily on the surface. He was assisted into a boat and taken ashore.