NO INQUIRY NEEDED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22481, 10 November 1947, Page 6

NO INQUIRY NEEDED

AIRCRAFT FATALITY

"SPIN OVER-CORRECTED" (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 8. It is not proposed to hold a magisterial inquiry into the recent aircraft accident at Nelson, as it is considered that the evidence of numerous witnesses was clear and free from doubt that while the pilot was effecting recovery from the spin he applied over-correction to the controls, with the result that the aircraft went into an involuntary spin in the opposite direction from which the pilot was unable to gain control before striking the water.

This was announced today by the Minister of Defence, Mr. F. Jones, who said a report had been received of the accident which occurred at Nelson last Sunday in which Mr. H. F. Crozier, a passenger, was killed, and Mr. J. R. Ellis, the pilot, was assumed to have lost his life when the aircraft spun into the water.

The Minister said that from the evidence of competent eye-witnesses it appeared that after executing several normal aerobatic manoeuvres at a safe height, the pilot brought the machine down some hundred feet in a controlled spin.

A regrettable feature of the accident was that Mr. Ellis was considered to be a particularly promising young pilot. He was regarded by his seniors as an able and responsible pilot for his experience. During recent months he had won several of his club's junior competitions for aerobatics and other classes of flying