FORCED LANDING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23411, 29 July 1939, Page 12

FORCED LANDING

FLIGHT OVER THE ALPS '■ ~ . ; MACHINE TOUCHES TREES —— ' ; i ' PILOT'S LONG TREK TO ROADV H [BV TELEGRAPH —OWN- CORRESPONDENT] ! 4 GREYMOUTH, Friday ' A forced landing was made by Pilot. ■' ! J Officer Lloyd Parry, of Christchurch, about 4.45 p.m. yesterday in a clearing in Taipo Valley, about 40 miles in. land from Greymouth. He was ing an aeroplane belonging to the West'. Coast United Aero Club from Christchurch to Greymouth across the Southern Alps. He was not hurt and the machine was only slightly damaged. Pilot-Officer Parry left the Wigram 7V < aerodrome at 3.15 p.m. and when ho did not arrive at Greymouth fears were * felt for his safety. The clearing where he landed is at the junction of the Seven-Mile Creek and the Taipo River' in a typical bed of a mountain stream and surfaced with many fair-sized boulders. ' J ' ' ' r The radius rod of the undercarriage of the machine was bent, the fabric torn and the propeller tips damaged when the aeroplane broke through the :.| tops of trees 40ft. : in height near the ; f clearing. (■ Found in Early Hours | The pilot made the aeroplane fast to trees and set out to walk 13 miles ' over broken country toward Jackson's, on the Otira-Greymonth highway. About six miles from Jackson's he was found at 3 a.m. wet through by FligUtLeutenant W. F, Parke and Mr. li- ; : • ; M. Good, club captain of the Greymouth Aero Club, who had been to Otira to help in the search and were returning. , - l Because of the mountainous nature of the country where the landing was made, .at an altitude of about 1000 ft., it may be necessary to dismantle the machine and carry it out to the Otira "Roadf^ Pilot-Officer Parry said that when he ! left Wigram conditions were normal. After he had crossed the main divide of the Southern Alps the. engine, which j had been running perfectly, suddenly I cut out, seemingly because of water in the petrol. Being then at a high altitude, about 5000 ft., he was able, to 1 stretch out in a glide and the machine was semi-stalled into the small clearing. Knowledge of the Area Pilot-Officer Parry, who is a member of the Canterbury Mountaineering Society, had a knowledge of the area and of the tracks leading out and had , little difficulty in reaching the high- j way. Near the scene of the forced • landing he met two miners, from whom he borrowed a hurricane lamp, and began his long trek to communicate with the outside world. He declined invitations from the miners to stay' the night' with them. , Pilot-Officer Parry is considered to have made a most skilful landing in view of the mountainous nature of the district.