AIR TRAGEDY

Southland Times, Issue 19822, 19 March 1926, Page 7

AIR TRAGEDY

CAUSE UNKNOWN TURNER RECOVERING INQUIRY TO BE HELD. (Per United Press Association.) Christchurch, Mar. 18. Nothing but theories and conjecture is yet offering as to the cause of the aeroplane smash in which Captain Horrell and T. L. Reid were killed yesterday afternoon. Lieut. Turner, the third man in the machine, who was injured, is making good progress and it is now probable that he will be able to tell his story at the inquiry which is to be held. He is the only person who really knows anything about what preceded the accident because, as the flying men say, the accounts of eye-witnesses who are not aviation experts, are not helpftil or reliable. Apparently the machine crashed after the manner most common in such disasters, that is, it slipped into a spiral and ended in a vertical nose dive. The machine was doubtless out of control, but had the altitude been reasonable, a skilful pilot such as Horrell was, might have recovered. All evidence is that altitude was so low as not to be safe for stunting. Officers in command at the aerodrome say that stunting is not discouraged as the training is for war service and the highest degree of expert skill is required in pilots for war flying, but the officers also say-*that such stunting is not safe at an elevation of less than 2,000 ft. Inexpert eye-witnesses all say that Horrell was much less than 2000 ft up. Flying was resumed as usual at the aerodrome this morning. Some comment was made on this in the city, the opinion being that the aviators were showing scsftt respect for their dead comrades, but the official answer is that it is necessary for psychological reasons to send pilots up directly after an accident has occurred. Had the light not been failing other machines would have been sent up last night immediately after the smash. Some of the young pilots’ course of training ends this week, and they will not fly again for a year. If they had not gone up to-day they might have brooded unduly over the smash, and been unwilling ever to fly again. The two passengers, one an officer and the other, Reid, a mess waiter, were carried to make the necessary weight in the machine. If the men had not been carried ballast would have had to be taken aboard. It was pure chance that Reid was one of the passengers. At the last minute he was invited to make the flight and fill the vacant seat. The wreck of the machine was removed to-day. It is impossible to say whether the engine was damaged beyond repair, but all the rest of the machine was wrecked. The opinion of officers at the aerodrome is that the smash was not caused by engine failure, but it will probably be impossible to discover owing to the state of the engine whether it was running properly. The engine and aeroplane were examined before the flight and declared airworthy. It had been flown by Captain Isitt earlier in the afternoon. WHAT CHILDREN SAW. BOYS’ PRESENCE OF MIND. Christchurch, Mar. 18. Len Lane and Hilda Woods, two children at the Orphanage, were in the grounds of the institution at the time of the crash. The lad, a bright youngster of 12 years, was first to reach the unfortunate men. “He tried to do what he could,” as the Matron of the Orphanage put it, but he found his boyish strength was not equal to the task of extricating the men from the wreckage. These two children were the only ones who witnessed the actual crash and the grim tragedy of that terrible dive shocked their young minds beyond words. They saw the aeroplane whizz down over the Orphanage for a moment that seemed a lifetime. They watched the machine in its meteoric descent. The sight and crash caused the little girl to clap her hands to her ears and call hysterically for help, but the lad ran to the aeroplane to help the injured. EVIDENCE AT INQUEST. Christchurch, Mar. 18. The inquest on Captain Horrell and T. ,L. Reid was opened this morning at the hospital. Captain Findlay, officer in command of Wigram Aerodrome, gave evidence of identification. William Edward Horrell said his brother visited Rangiora at 3.30 p.m. yesterday to attend the funeral of his uncle, then returned to the ’drome to fulfil an engagement. His brother was an experienced pilot, and had been injured in fighting on Gallipoli. The inquest was adjourned sine die. The aeroplane that crashed was examined before the flight by a sergeant mechanic and passed as airworthy. The actual, cause of the crash is unknown, but a thorough inquiry will be held. FLIGHTS AS USUAL. COMMENT REGARDING PILOTS’ ACTION. (Special to the Times.) Christchurch, Mar. 18. It was essential that all the pilots at the Wigram Aerodrome should make a flight this morning even though two men were killed when a ’plant crashed last evening. To-day there was considerable comment in the city regarding the action of the pilots, but Captain L. M. Isitt explained that there is an unwritten law that if a crash occurs all pilots from the aerodrome concerned must go up again as soon as possible afterwards. This law prevails in England and at all flying schools. The “refresher” course at the Wigram Aerodrome finishes to-day, and Captain Isitt said it was absolutely essential that all the pilots should make a flight, otherwise they would not be able to do so for another 12 months. By that time, unless they made a flight, the psychological effect on the pilots might have made them nervous as Captain Isitt explained. “If anyone is killed in a tram or train smash all the trams and trains do not stop running. Naturally the men did want to fly for the sake of flying. It was essential that they should do so.”

In an editorial, to-night’s Sun says that one of the best records of aviation in the world was marred in Christchurch last evening by the aeroplane crash in which two aviators were killed and a third injured. The tragedy demonstrates the fact that while the art of flying has surmounted the perils of the pioneering days, complete security from the risk of accident has not been achieved. Against that however there is in Canterbury a consoling record of a rare freedom from disaster. Since the Defence Departinent assumed control of the Wigram Aerodrome at Sockburn three and a half years ago, not one serious accident, if we except the present fatality, has oc- 1 curred. This is a remarkable record. In the period mentioned 180 pilots have undergone refreshed courses, flying nearly 200,000 miles, while members of the permanent staff at a conservative estimate have flown 260,000 miles. These statistics offer striking proof that there is no occasion for anxiety as to the future of aviation in the province.