AIR CRASH CASE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22509, 28 August 1936, Page 10

AIR CRASH CASE

DEATH OF PASSENGER DAMAGES FOR WIDOW SUM OF .£1750 AWARDED ACCIDENT DURING FOG [IIV TE LEGRA 1'H —PitESS ASSOCIATION'] DUNK I) IN, Thursday Judgment was given by Mr. Justice Kennedy tliis afternoon in a ease, the first of its kind heard in Dunedin, in which Jessie Marguerite Bailey claimed £SOOO from Francis Cecil Taylor, pilot of an aeroplane which crashed at St. Andrews, near Tiinaru, on November 21, 1!M1, plaintiff's husband being killed in tlie accident. The allegation was that the defendant failed to use reasonable care and skill in piloting tlie aeroplane in that he failed to maintain adequate flying speed and adequate height above the ground as a result of which the aeroplane stalled and crashed. His Honor decided that at a critical stage the defendant, anxious as he may have been, failed to take the customary and proper precaution of maintaining air speed and was guilty of negligence. Damages were assessed at £1750. The accident occurred in a heavy fog and tlie Otago Aero Club's metal Moth machine ZK-ACK crashed and was damaged extensively. The passenger, Mr. Howard Bailey, aged 'lO years, chief auctioneer for Stronach and Morris, Dunedin, was killed. He was dead when removed from the cockpit. His neck was broken and one leg practically toin off The pilot, Mr. Taylor, received abrasions on the bead and other injuries which were not serious. The fog came down early in the morning and St. Andrews was covered in a thick blanket. Drizzling rain was falling. The crash occurred about a mile west of the township. It was thought that the pilot was endeavouring to find a landing place. The farmer in whose paddock the aeroplane crashed, Mr. L. A. O'Loughlin, said that with several men he was repairing his threshing mill in a yard when he saw the Moth travelling south apparently coining from the direction ot Pareora. It was travelling very low, about 200 ft. up, doubtless on account ot the fact that there was a thick drizzling rain at the time. The pilot circled twice in the vicinity of the farm, an, then went over the township, circled back, and went over a belt of trees near the house. The machine then appeared to dive, and struck the ground with a dull thud, about 60 or 70 yards in front of the house.