MAN'S FOOLHARDINESS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23805, 11 May 1939, Page 15

MAN'S FOOLHARDINESS

ATTEMPT TO FLY PLANE NO PILOTING KNOWLEDGE (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, May 2. An attempt by a young man to take off in a Gipsy Moth plane which be had taken out of a hangar at Archcrfleld (Queensland) aerodrome was frustrated by a pilot and mechanic of the Aircraft Pty.. Ltd. The engine of the plane cut out while the man, who had not previously flown a plane, was taxi-ing across the field. It was found subsequently that if he had managed to take off, he would not have been able to land safely, as the joystick in the front cockpit was jammed by a tin trunk and. with the machine set at dual control, this meant that both joysticks were jammed. The joysticks were so placed that it would have been possible for him to have got the machine into the air. The man later told detectives that the only (lying experience he had had was on a 20 minutes’ taxi (light, but he was satisfied he could pilot the plane. He had read a book on flying. Ho had intended to fly to Ipswich, but did not know where he would have gone after that. The man had with him in the cockpit a roughly-fashioned cardboard disc, showing the times in various parts of the world in relation to Greenwich mean time, and radio and electrical equipment and a huge radio valve in a trunk containing clothing. After the engine cut out. the man made an attempt to take off, but was intercepted by Mr H. Logan, a mechanic of Aircraft Pty., Ltd., and the chief pilot of that company. Mr B. Munro, who detained him until the arrival of the police. The man was charged with having attempted to steal the plane.