NORTHERN SLOPES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21905, 14 September 1934, Page 10

NORTHERN SLOPES

VEBY BUGGED ABEA INHOSPITABLE COUNTRY REPORTS FROM TRAPPERS OPINION AS TO LOCATION If the aeroplane has been lost on the lower northern slopes of Mount Eg* mont, the area comprises some of the most heavily-timbered and rugged portions of the whole of the Egmont National Park. This reserve consists of primeval forest extending for a radius of six miles from the. summit of the mountain. Adjoining is partly-cleared country strewn with fallen timber and very broken, forming a most inhospitable area to a pilot obliged to make a forced landing. The chief feature of the northern aspect of the reserve is the Waiwakaiho Gorge, up which Diffenbach, after days of travel in which he encountered almost insuperable difficulties, forced his way to make the first ascent of the mountain in 1839. Torn by volcanic forces and gouged by rushing mountain torrents, the forested country adjacent and within the gorge itself is particularly desperate, a superficial search of which would require many days of exceptionally arduous travel. A minute search of many parts would be well-nigh impossible. At present, following the recent fall, snow is lying deeply in the upper gorges, and will add immensely to the difficulties of searchers. ' Some hope, however, is held that the aeroplane may have reached more open country in the vicinity of the foothills of the Pouaki Ranges. Interviewed by telephone last night, Mr. L. W. Lovell, New Plymouth, captain of the North Egmont Alpine Club, who was organising a search party, stated that reports he had received from trappers and settlers from the upper Kent Road indicated that the aeroplane had been both seen and heard in that vicinity. One report was to the effept that the aeroplane had definitely been seen gliding down with its engine spluttering near the edge of the reserve, while independent reports from trappers, who claimed they had heard a crash, gave a location between Kent and Alfred Roads. Mr. Lovell added that a large party had been arranged to set out at 2 a.m. to commence a search in that vicinity. Later at daybreak FlyingOfficer lan Keith, instructor at New would fly over the area in an endeavour to locate the missing aeroplane and direct the searchers to the spot.

PREVIOUS ACCIDENTS CRASHES INTO HILLSIDES THE LOSS OF FIVE LIVES There have been three fatal aeroplane mishaps -in the past two years caused by the machines crashing fnio the side of a' hill' or mountain. In each case the accident was due to mist or fog. In March this year an Auckland Aero Club Moth struck a hill near the eastern elopes of Mount Hawkins, Wellington, and the pilot, Mr. E. R. Boucher, president of the club, was killed, and Mr. L. W. Swan, secretary, was seriously injured. There lowlying clouds and fog shrouding the hillside at the time. "n . Two lives were lost in a head-on crash into a hillside at Mount Turiwhati, near Kumara, South Island, at the end of November last year, Mr. J. D. Renton, the pilot, and Mr. J. D. Lynch, a former Mayor of Greymouth, being killed. The wreckage was located less than 100 ft. from the summit of Mount Turjwhati. The heavy fog reached to the level of the housetops in the district.

In October, 1932, the two occupants of a Wellington aeroplane, Mr. F. Gresser, pilot, and Mr. G. B. S. King, were killed when the machine struck the top of a hill above Tawa Flat, near Wellington, on a flight to Rongotai aerodrome from . New Plymouth. The hills were covered in mist and rain was falling at the time.