Climbed Plane Too Fast

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6841, 23 April 1932, Page 4

Climbed Plane Too Fast

EXPLANATION OF RECENT CRASH

Mr B. Chrystall, tlio victim of the ’plane accident at Foxtou recently, when the home-made machine ho was flying crashed, writes to the Times in explanation of what happened to cause the mishap. Mr Ohrystall states, that the initial mistake ho made was to climb the machino too fast with the result that lie reduced his flying speed below the safety point. Any ’plane flown below a certain speed will fall and at the same time will rotate on its own axis nose first, the nose being the Heaviest end. !he Americans sometimes refer to this as a tail-spin which, wrongly, conveys the impression that the ’plane falls tailfirst. The normal rate of descent of a machine in a spin is approximately 1000 ft. in three seconds, and a plane must have height to come out of a spin safely. Mr. Chrystall states that his machine was just on the verge of coming out of a spin when it hit the ground. Another 50ft. and he would probably have come out all right. This explanation is given to contradict the rumour that the ’plane was of defective construction.