SLIGHT DAMAGE

Southland Times, Issue 22761, 11 December 1935, Page 5

SLIGHT DAMAGE

PASSENGER PLANE UNDERCARRIAGE COLLAPSES NO ONE INJURED (Per United Press Association.) Hastings, December 10. Damage to the East Coast Airways passenger plane Tui was sustained this morning at 7.45 o’clock when landing at Napier on completion of the usual trip from Gisborne. None of the four passengers was injured and the structural damage amounted to slight fractures to the nose and starboard wing tip, and the undercamage, and the engine cowling. The machine was piloted by Flying Officer Kirkup and he had as passengers Mr and Mrs A. E. Bartrum and child, of Christchurch, and Mr C, Haache, of Gisborne, all of whom showed no sign of panic and were able to proceed on the journey south by train. The Tui arrived at Napier from Gisborne on schedule. The pilot made a perfect landing into a south-east breeze on the eastern side of the ground. The actual cause of the mishap is not yet known, but it is thought that a slight bump on the ground at Gisborne when the plane was taking off strained the undercarriage, causing it to collapse when the plane landed at Napier. The machine finally came to rest on its two main wheels and the nose leaving the tail fairly high in the air.