PROPOSED TASMAN RACE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19136, 3 October 1936, Page 5

PROPOSED TASMAN RACE

PRIZE MONEY TOO LOW MASCOT PILOTS’ VIEW SYDNEY, Oct. 2. The reported movement af-oot at Napier, New Zealand, for a transTasman air race, with prize money amounting to £SOOO is, according to the Sun, causing a good deal of comment among Mascot pilots who, while regarding the event as quite practicable, express the opinion that the prize-money is too low. “DEATH FLIGHTS” NEWSPAPER OPPOSITION RISKS TOO GREAT (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. “Under the heading, “Let’s not encourage death flights,” the Dominion says, editorially: “No sensible organisation should approve of the proposal for a Sydney to Napier air race. Most pilots in an air race fly with a full throttle from take-off to landing. The result has been seen in the Johannesburg race, where engines known to be thoroughly reliable when reasonably used have failed, leading to forced landings. In a Tasman race, all those forced landings might be fatalities.” After referring to the navigation difficulties across the Tasman, the paper adds: “There is no doubt that New Zealand and Australia could' provide competent enough pilots, but they are too valuable to sacrifice for a stunt. It is certain that no aeronautical organisation would undertake the supervision of such an event.”