PILOT NOT GUILTY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26749, 19 April 1948, Page 2

PILOT NOT GUILTY

DANGEROUS FLYING CHARGE TAKE-OFF FROM PADDOCK P.A. NELSON, Apl. 17. Two charges arising out of a forced landing at Rai Valley by a Nelson Aero Club plane were heard by Mr T. E. Maunsell, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The pilot. Kelvin Jack Wilkinson, was found not guilty of flying the aircraft in such a manner as to be the cause of unnecessary danger to persons gathered at Rai Valley. On a chargp of assaulting Wilkinson, a Rai Valley resident, Cyril Turner Leov, was convicted and fined £3. The evidence showed that the plane landed at Rai Valley because of extreme turbulence encountered on the flight from Blenheim to Nelson. The pilot afterwards took oft again, leaving the passenger, Miss Joyce Talbot, another club pilot, on the ground. Because of the restricted take-off space he flew back low over the paddock to allow Miss Talbot to see if his undercarriage had been damaged in the take-off, and it was alleged by Rai Valley residents who had assisted the pilot that he flew dangerously low over them, estimates of his height ranging from four feet to 20 feet. The magistrate dismissed the charge. The assault charge arose from an attack made on Wilkinson when he returned to Rai Valley by road to pick up Miss Talbot. The magistrate commented that Leov had absolutely no legal right to assault the pilot. Mr Maunsell said he could see that Leov and other people in the district had been frightened and Leov had lost control. He had acted under what he thought was the provocation of dangerous flying, but that was not the view of expert witnesses.