TASMAN FLIGHT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 4 May 1934, Page 4

TASMAN FLIGHT

THE NEW CODOCK CONCERN IN AVIATION CIRCLES (By Telegraph—Press Association) WELLINGTON, This Day. Yesterday’s announcement by cable from Sydney that, weather permitting, the newly-built Codock monoplane would be flown hv Squadron-Leader White from Australia to New Zealand to-morrow has been greeted with some concern in aviation circles. An experienced Wellington pilot stated yesterday that he and a number o.f his colleagues were opposed to the projected flight. “There is a very strong feeling among professional pilots throughout New Zealand that the flight should be prohibited by the Australian aviation authorities. I fail to see what good purpose can be gained by the flight. If some defect occurs on the way across that may mean the loss of two valuable lives * and the retarding of aviation for years. It must be remembered that both machine and engines are new and comparatively untried, and that a sudden defect that may only become manifest due to stress or bad weather might prove fatal in the middle of the Tasman but be comparaticely unimportant had it occurred over land. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith himself has said on more than one occasion that he does not relish flying the Tasman after the end of March.”