H.B. ’PLANE CRASH

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 April 1938, Page 7

H.B. ’PLANE CRASH

BROTHER AND SISTER KILLED RIGHT WING CRUMBLES [PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.] HASTINGS, April 18. The woman pilot and one passenger, her brother, were killed instantly when a Hornet Moth aeroplane, belonging to the Hawke’s Bay and East Coast Aero Club, crashed with a terrific impact four miles from Matapiro at 12.20 p.m. to-day. The victims were: — Nellie Arnott, single, aged about 35, a Plunket nurse, of Pakowhai, pilot of the aeroplane. Roy Arnott, single, a young man, also of Pakowhai, the passenger. The machine was hopelessly smashed. The engine was buried deep in the ground, and the fuselage, wings, and instrument board were a twisted and distorted mass. Bits of the fuselage were spread for many yards. One strut was stuck firmly in the ground, where it had been hurled 300 yards away from the wreckage. The appearance of the wreckage suggested that the machine had struck the ground in a direct and terrific impact. The crumpled remains of the machine did not burst into flames. :■ '

The bodies of both victims ' were mutilated beyond recognition, and were extricated with difficulty from the mangled cabin. Later they were removed to Hastings, where an inquest is to be held. Miss Arnott, accompanied I>v her brother, left the Bridge A. ac,,.«..0n., shortly after noon. The machine then, according to officials of the club, appeared to be in perfectly good order. It was intended to go for a passenger cruise round part of Hawke’s Bay. About 12.30 p.m. the Hastings police received news that the aeroplane had crashed on the Crownthorpe settlement, about four miles from Matapiro station. Senior-Sergeant Sivyer, accompanied by Constable C. P. Foote and Constable Grantley, of Taradale, set out immediately by car for the scene of the accident. The Aero Club also received news of the tragedy shortly after 12.30 p.m., and two machines, a Tiger Moth and a Moth Major, set out for the scene, piloted by Messrs. A. W. Britton and E. F. Harvie.

The Hornet Moth, a cabin biplane, was the only one of the type in New Zealand. It was bought by the club in August last year. It has been in production in Great Britain for some years, and is considered by officials of’the club to be a very sound machine.

Miss Arnott, who was a Plunket nurse in Napier, received her flying instruction as a member of the club, and some time ago had her license endorsed to allow her to make passenger flights. She was considered, by officials of the club to be a very cool pilot, and had formerly had. no mishaps. The parents of the victims live at Pakowhai. EYEWITNESSES OF TRAGEDY The police were on the scene shortly after the accident. After the crash had been reported to Wellington, a telegram was received stating that the Inspector of Air Accidents had left by car for Hawke’s Bay to investigate the accident,. It is reported that an inspection will be made tomorrow. Two Crownthorpe settlers, Messrs. A. W. Whyte and W. A. Darragh, were eve-witnesses of the tragedy, and a third, Mr. G. H. Tresseder, on whose property the aeroplane crashed, was out of his house after hearing the terrific crash as the machine hit the ground, in time to see wreckage falling through the air. Mr. Whyte immediately set off for the scene of the crash, about a quarter of a mile distant. Mr. Whyte said a wing of the machine appeared to crumple up as the aeroplane emerged from a cloud. It staggered and turned its nose down, and dived toward the earth at a terrific speed. The crash as the aeroplane hit the ground was quite distinct from where he stood. Mr. Whyte was unable to say at what height the aeroplane was when the wing crumpled; but said the whole tragedy appeared to be over in a flash. The machine hit the ground nose first. Mr. Whyte- praised the promptitude with which aerodrome officials acted. Within half an hour of the crash, he said, two aeroplanes bad landed in the paddock, and the pilots were doing what they could, and beginning inquiries.

Mr. Darragh, who was also outside at the time of the crash, was able to give a circumstantial account of the aeroplane’s movements from the time it came within his sight until it hit the ground. He watched the machine as it passed overhead, and placed the time of the crash at 12.20 p.m. When it passed over him. the machine was flying at between 2000 and 3000 feet, in a north-westerly direction. There was a fair amount of cloud about at the time: but visibility was so good that though he was half a mile away from the spot where the aeroplane crashed, he was able to see the movements quite clearly. A right wing crumpled, and the aeroplane turned nose down. At the same time the engine roared, and the machine dived. Mr. Darragh said he immediately set off to give what help he could; but on the way met Mr. Tresseder, who told him that both occupants of the aeroplane were dead, and that nothing could be done. Mr. Darragh then telephoned the police. Mr. Tresseder was inside his house, 200 yards from the place where the aeroplane hit the ground, when the noise of a heavy impact brought him running out. Though the aeroplane was then a heap of twisted wreckage on the ground, Mr. Tresseder saw other pieces of the machine floating through the air. Some of these landed a considerable distance away.