FLYING BUND

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 11382, 6 December 1930, Page 5

FLYING BUND

~sKy

UNAWARE OF POSITION FOR AN

TERRIBUE 1 SENSATION "OF LONELINESS.

•'• (Special to-:tLe. ■'Times.') V- •.* AUCKLAND,'Dec. 3 • To fly blind: over lilnkhowii country for over an hqur was the experience of' Rev. O. G, Scrimgeour,' thb' Auckland Methodist jnissioner, 'one of the pilots' who triok ‘ prirt • lit^tho'Auckland 'Aero Club’s cross-country flight ro Te Aroha. .... to 1 ;-' -rig,-:, f, ‘-:toto

Fite machines, left Auckland to participate' in .the air prigeaht ’Elt Te Aroha . hut, on .' the; jorirnfey front Auckland, ’ MrtScriftigeotfr: lost the remainder of the party when t the formation. entered hiitivy cloiids andit was not until two ; hours- later, when ho returned to .the club’s, aerodrome, thatliis, :■ Av|i^reahpi|ts‘' wgs known. " V to to 'Mr ScniUgeoiir. totaled that.‘ho was flying the only) machine: which whs not equipped ; with' a compass. He was on the 'left of the; leader, which entered a heavy bank 6f ,elouds near Bombay, to the 'east of Eukekohe. He lost touch with the other machines and climbed above the cloxuls as the clouds were, so heavy that he was not able to" See his' wing tips. He flew low until ho saw the Bombay hills below him,’. 7 when hh' begah' to climb again. : ' M Mr Scrimgeour soon found, he was flying blind and for. twepty xninutes lie was unable to see anything beyond his machine, even the position of the sun being obscured. Without a compass, he had no sense of direction, while the absence of any horizon 'added to 'his 'difficulties. In'the middle of a cloud bank,, a heavy storm of sleet- fell, making it necessary for him to remove his goggles to read the dash-board. His goggles were damaged slightly with the 'result, that he was forced to fly without- their aid.' . '/ . The machine proved difficult- to control, falling into steep dives „ and, when he corrected _ these, he was frequently caught in other air currents, and, at tunes, the nose- of the machine was thrown up until it almost stalled. After spending 20 minutes in the clouds, he J rose to 6000 feet, but thesn'was unable to pick up a landmark, all that lie could see beneath him being- a sea of clouds extending fpr miles; in eyery direction. . - ../ t '“lt was the worst, sensation or loneliness I have ever experienced, lie said. “My only comfoii; was that- 'the engine was ticking over steadily and I had no doubt that- it would keep on going as long as i bad petrol.”. „ . ' The first landmark Mr Scrimgeoiir recognised was the new St. Stephen s College at Bombay and. following the Great South Road he w?s able to return to the aerodrome, which; he reached two hours after he had. lert it. He then had only a small Quantity of petrol. to_ .••