PLANE CRASH AT OAMARU

Evening Star, Issue 22516, 8 December 1936, Page 5

PLANE CRASH AT OAMARU

OCCUPANTS MIRACULOUS ESCAPE MACHINE BADLY DAMAGED (From Our Correspondent.) Further particulars regarding the plane crash near Oamaru yesterday reveal that the pilot (Mr V. Cotton) and passenger (Mr Hahn), both of Christchurch, had a miraculous escape from injury when the machine somersaulted on striking the fence. The aeroplane belonged to the Canterbury Aero Club, and was a light machine of the old D.H. 60 type. In these models the passenger sits m front of the pilot, so that in the a crash the chances of his receiving* injury are greater than those of the person in control. Fortunately for the passenger in this instance, however, he elected to be. strapped ,in his seat at Timaru, where a short stop was made; thus he was saved from being catapulted out when the plane turned over. At the time of the crash Mr Hahn was proceeding to Oamaru to take aerial _ photographs of the Waitaki Boys’ High School. The plane was badly damaged. The propeller blades were snapped off short, while the wings and tail were torn and crumpled. The engine, fortunately, remained intact, and does not appear, to have been damaged. . The crash was witnessed by several people; all of whom are of the opinion that tie pilot erred in attempting to land with, instead of into, r the wind, which was blowing fairly strong from the north-east. Two boys from the Waitaki School bad lit a fire in order to give the airman an idea of the direction of the wind, but after circling twice the pilot attempted to land side-on to the wind, and almost struck a small haystack. He then attempted to rise, but the . undercarriage struck a fence, and, after ploughing up the ground for several yards, the plane turned completely over. The pilot was assisted unhurt from the machine, and, with the exception of a small cut on the knee, Mr Hahn also escaped injury. The ground whereon the pilot attempted to, land, was - very bumpy and was mos* unsuitable for such a hazard. Mr Vincent Cotton, the pilot, is a member of the tlanterbury Aero Club and holds an A license. He is due to leave'New Zealand in about' a month to join the Royal Air Force.in England.