MONOPLANE DAMAGED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20950, 13 August 1931, Page 10

MONOPLANE DAMAGED.

FORCED LANDING MADE. PILOT'S SKILFUL HANDLING, CRASH INTO HOUSE AVOIDED. BOTH OCCUPANTS UNINJURED. [BY TELEGRAPH.- —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] HAMILTON, Wednesday.' A forced landing owing to engine failure was made in a De Soutter monoplane by Mr. S. J. Blackmore, of London Street, Hamilton, at Forest Lake, near Hamilton shortly before. 5 p.m. to day. Mr. Blackmorc had with him as a pas. senger Mr. W. McKenzie, of Te Awa. mutu. Neither was injured and the onlv damage done to the machine was a broken undercarriage. Mr. Blackmore was returning to Te Rapa aerodrome from & short flight over the town and was at a fair altitude when thG engine cut out. fie brought the monoplane down successfully in a sloping paddock on the crest of a low hill in* a light cross-wind. After a run of about 40 yards it crashed through a wire fence and gorse hedge into a small yard adjoining a residence and tho pilot swung the machine round to avoid striking the house. In doing so, the undercarriage caught in a 6tump and was carried away.

The machine finally came to rest right side up, with the tip of one wing barely 2ft. from the building. So skilfully was the landing made that the occupants of the machine scarcely felt the bump and the glass windscreen of the cabin remained intact. No damage-was done to the fabric. The monoplane, which ig owned by Mr. Blackmore, was partially dismantled this evening and will be ra. moved to the aerodrome to-morrow. Mr. Blackmore, who is a qualified pilot, holding an A certificate, has had two years' flying experience. He has mads forced landings twice previously, onco at Kawhia and once near l'auranga, only minor damage being done on each occasion. 4