AIR LINER DISASTER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18759, 16 July 1935, Page 5

AIR LINER DISASTER

FAILURE OF ENGINE DEAD PILOT PRAISED LONDON, July 14. The Daily Telegraph’s Amsterdam correspondent says that outstanding coolness and 'courage were shown by the steward and 13 passengers . who escaped from the air liner which was wrecked to-day. Although fire broke out a few seconds after the impact, they left the plane quietly ami without panic. Two passengers, who were sitting in the forepart of the machine, like the crew, were killed instantly. One survivor, Mr Petersen, declared that the engines were running normally when the piano took off’, but one appeared to fail within a few seconds of leaving the ground. The -pilot attempted to land when only a few feet up, and hit a dyke, forcing open the door of the plane. The passengers helped each other from the machine. A Norwegian passenger, Mr Tcrsc;haw, corroborated Mr Petersen’s story, and paid a tribute to the helpfulness of the steward. Mr Petersen also paid a tribute in the highest terms to the skill of the pilot, Bilhertstein, in landing the plane. Sillicrtsteiii, a German, flew Ductsehe Lufthansa planes for four years, and was obliged to transfer to the K.L.M. because he was a Jew. The wrecked machine recently collided with a guiding lamp-post, at Croydon, when it was seriously damaged.