AVIATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 February 1930, Page 9

AVIATION

PAGEANT AT CHRISTCHURCH (Per Presa Association.) / _ CHRISTCHURCH, February 16. Only good weather was needed to make a success of the Canterbury Aero Club’s pageant yesterday, but 1 that was denied. A light north east wind blew, carrying a heavy mist or sea fog, with occasional heavy showers. The visibility was very bad and practical!? the whole value of the display as a spectacle for the many thousands of people who went to Sockburn, was lost. Happily, the day passed without any mishap. The crowd gasped, however, when Pilot H. Armstrong did a series of low loops, not more than 300 feet above the ground. Other pilots did side rolls and loops. Results: — Wigram Aerial Derby:—First heat: Mill (Auckland) Moth, 1; Bloomfield (Auckland) Moth, 2; Chandler (Blenheim) Moth, 3. Won by two hundred yards, with Chandler close up. Second heat: McGregor (Hamilton) Moth 1; Buckeridge (Dunedin) 2; Stedman (Wellington), Spartan, 3. Third heat: Bott (Wellington) Moth 1, Barlow (Canterbury) Moth 2; Park (Wellington) Monocoupe 3. Final: Bolt 1, McGregor 2. All Transport Race (run 50 yards, fly. round a mark, land on a mark, run 50 yards, cycle again, and push wheelbarrows home). Final: White 1; Bloomfield 2, McGregor 3. Landing competition: Bolt 1, McGregor 2. Landing Competition for Club Pilots: Men, D. Grigg (Canterbury) 1; R. S. Taylor (Christchurch) 2. Ladies: Miss P. Bennett (Marlborough) 1. CHICHESTER’S “STRAIT” FLIGHT BLENHEIM, February 15. Chichester, flying his own Moth, accompanied by Messrs P. Brandon and Goodwin, flying an Avro-Avian, en route from Wellington to Christchurch, had a terible experience crossing Cook Strait. The very thick weather, and heavy rain reduced visibility to nothing. They flew most of the distance ten feet off the water. Ultimately a good landing was effected at Woodburn. Being weather bound here they are not able to proceed to Christchurch.

MISS CLIFFORD’S MISHAP. CHRISTCHURCH, February 17. Striking in quick succession the top of a hedge and the temporary bandstand at the Wigram Aerodrome, a three-seater Simmons-Spartan aeroplane, owned by the New Zealand Airways Ltd., and piloted by Miss Aroha Clifford, was extensively damaged yesterday afternoon. The machine rose sluggishly and the undercarriage failed to clear the hedge fence, which bounds the landing field near the hangar. The undercarriage and propellor of the machine were smashed. The damage is estimated at PIPER AND KAYE CAIRO, February 15. Piper , and Kaye, the airmen, have left for Baghdad. LONDON, February 16. Piper and Kaye landed at Amman, Syria, whither they returned after getting half-way to Baghdad, when they were caught in a storm. Theh flight •will be resumed on Monday. AUSTRALIAN GLIDER. SYDNEY, February 16. The first Australian-built glider was successfuly tried out near Parramatta. The machine was piloted by Jack Lyons, a member of the New South Wales Aero Club. It reached an altitude of one hundred feet, and covered five hundred yards, but the weather was hardly suitable for gliding. PILOT’S LICENSE SUSPENDED. MELBOURNE, February 17. The Minister of Defence announce.’ the suspension of the license of another air pilot, who crashed in the Illawarra district, while carrying two passengers. After the accident, it w r as discovered that his ticket did not entitle him % to carry passengers. Breaches of the air navigation rules are regarded seriously, as complaints are received that aviators indulged in dangerous practices at Parramatta and Liverpool, and the Department hoped that the suspensions would act as a deterrent. CORTES’ NEW RECORD PARIS, February 16. Piloting the ’plane Question Mark, in which he established the long distance straight line record and the telosed circuit distance record, Cortes, accompanied by Cedos, broke the closed circuit distance and duration records with a load of a thousand kilogrammes, previously held by Germany. He remained in the air for IS '■hours and flew 3275 kilogrammes at an average speed of 204 kilogrammes an hour. A gale all night prevented 'him beating the German, record of 205 kilogrammes. France and Germany now each hold twenty-seven air records.