AIR TRAGEDY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 113, 16 May 1938, Page 11

AIR TRAGEDY

INQUIRY OPENED

HAWKE'S BAY CRASH

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

HASTINGS, This Day. An inquiry into the aeroplane crash at Matapiro on April 18, as a result of which the pilot, Miss Nellie Arnott, and a passenger, .Robert Bowrie Arnott, were killed, opened at Hastings today# Mr. W. F. Stilwell, S.M., was the chairman, and associated with him were Commander Bolt, chief pilot of Cook Strait Airways, and SquadronLeader H. B. Biirrell, Royal New Zealand Air Force. Dr. N. A. Foden appeared for the Air Department, Mr. W. S Averill for the relatives of the vicv tims, Mr. T. E. O'Dowd for the Hawke s Bay' and East Coast Aero Club, and Mr, W. E. Bate for A. F. Bowyer, ground engineer. Dr. Foden said that the Air Department put forward three possible .hypotheses. Firstly, there was a possibility of a defect in the original construction of the machine; secondly, there was a possibility of a defect occurring after the machine had been put into commission; and, thirdly, the plane might] have been subjected to a strain it. was never intended to bear because of some faulty handling by a pilot. Gilbert Henry Tre&eder, farmer, Crownthorpe Settlement, gave deuce that he heard the plan functioning all right. A second or two later he heard an unusual roar of the engine, and after heard a crash. The- wreckage .suggested that the machine hit the ground ,with terrific force. The occupants of it were beyond human aid when he reached the wreck.

William Arthur Darragh, farmer, Awapiko, said thitf.the plane was,travelling on an even keel when it turned suddenly into a dive. The right wing seemed to become displaced. When the dive started the engine raced. The inquiry is proceeding.