CRASH IN CHANNEL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22004, 10 January 1935, Page 9

CRASH IN CHANNEL

INSPECTOR'S FINDINGS STRONG EXCEPTION TAKEN (Received January 9, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON. Jan. 9 Five members of Hillman Airways have issued a statement complaining that the report of the Inspector of Accidents on the crash in the Channel in October was delayed three months, and declaring that it would not have been published if Mr. Edward Hillman, late managing director of the firm, had lived.

The members deprecate the findings of the inspector, and say that his claim that the machine was flown into the sea was puro assumption. The accident might have been due to hundreds of causes. They stigmatise the finding that the non-receipt of bearings from Croydon did not affect the accident as typical of the Air Ministry's attitude in view of the many attempts of air operators to secure independent wireless communication which would enable them to control their own aircraft.

The Air Ministry's Inspector of Accidents attributed the fatal crash of the Hillman Airwavs air liner in the English Channel in October, when seven lives were lost, to the pilot's lack of skill in navigation. It is thought, said the inspector, that the pilot apparently attempted to fly within sight of the ground landmarks instead of above the clouds, where the weather was good. In attempting once more to pick up the coastline it was believed that he flow into the sea through not being able to distinguish the glassy surface of the water through the mist.