LOST AIR LINER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22779, 15 January 1936, Page 7

LOST AIR LINER

INQUEST ON VICTIMS EVIDENCE OF THE PILOT (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) ALEXANDRIA, January 13. The inquest on the City of Khartoum victims has been opened. Pilot Wilson, in giving evidence, stated that within a minute of sending the last wireless message, which was the signal for winding in the aerial, all the engines failed simultaneously. The altimeter registered 000 feet. The visibility was good. He put the machine at the correct diving angle, but since the air screws stopped lie lost 100 feet before attaining the correct angle. The glide was normal except that it was a little steeper than if the engines were running. The plane struck the water in 15 seconds, shattering any hope of making a safe landing. “Before hitting the water I was only slightly anxious owing to the fact that I had not normal aids for landing, like flares or buoys. 1 flattened out the plane at the moment of .contact with the Sea. It was impossible to see the water in these circumstances, since the nose light was only for picking out obstacles ahead. I never before lauded with only nose lights. One of the petrol gauges showed 25 gallons and the other nil. There was enough petrol for 20 minutes’ flying.” Wilson expressed the opinion that possibly breakage in the petrol feed or an obstruction caused the disaster. He added that he climbed on to the sinking plane and remained there until it sank. He spoke to a passenger (Luke) after the crash, also to Amor, who was a strong swimmer. He was himself nearly run down by the Brilliant, which eventually picked him up. The court listened tensely while a doctor described the cause of the death of the victims. The coroner asked the court to stand in silence as a mark* of sympathy to the dead. It will be at least three or four_ weeks before the technical investigation is concluded. Pilot Wilson gave a dramatic account of the final scene. “I made good normal contact with the water, but almost ilnmediately afterwards the nose of the plane was buried in solid water, as though it had run into a large swell. I found myself in the water one second after the plane made contact with the sea. I undid the safety valves and extricated myself from the cockpit, which was open. Then, getting to the surface, 1 saw the plane standing on its nose practically vertically. It took 15 to 20 minutes for mo to strip off my clothes. Only the starboard wingtip and tail structure were visible, silhouetted against the sky. I drifted, holding the cockpit cushion, which was soon sodden. Then I swam to the plane and climbed on to the tail, where I found a passenger, who asked our chances of being picked up. I reassured him. I saw another passenger swimming and trying to climb on to the tailplane, but he was repeatedly swept off by the swell. I pulled him on to the tailplane. (t The swell ■was nine feet from crest to trough, which is considerable as far as landing a flying boat is concerned. «Both passengers swam off into the darkness. By this time 45 minutes had elapsed. I remained on the tail of the plane and then on the rudder until they became submerged. Then I swain to, the starboard wing tip, where I remained until 9-30 p.m., when the plane sank. My luminous watch had not stopped. I \fas on the wing tip for an hour.” Wilson described how he swam until picked up at 5 a.m. The medical evidence disclosed that Garrett and two of the crew died from drowning, while seven others, with fractured skulls, were killed instantly.