DE PINEDO FLIGHT ENDS

Taranaki Daily News, 8 April 1927, Page 7

DE PINEDO FLIGHT ENDS

HIS MACHINE DESTROYED SUDDEN OUTBREAK OF FIRE WRECKAGE SINKS IN LAKS Ey Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. New York, April 8. A message from Roosevelt Dam, Arizona, states that De Pinedo’s flight ended to-day, when the seaplane Santa Aria caught fire as she was refuelling there, preparatory to hopping off for' San Diego. De 1 Pinedo and his crew are safe, but the machine is a total loss. Immediate efforts will be made to raise the engine, which ib resting at the bottom of Roosevelt Lake at a depth of 60 feet. A later message states: De Pinedo’s flight was halted at Roosevelt Lake, Arizona, when fire destroyed the giant twinmotored monoplane. De Pinedo was talking to newspaper men on shore when a sudden blast was heard on the lake at the landing buoy, and '.he big ship was instantly a mass of flames. The mechanics, who were adjusting the motor in preparation for the next leg of the flight, leaped overboard and swam to safety, while the plane burned furiously. Nobody was injured. De Pinedo had come ashore only a short time previously to the disaster. He had stayed with the craft in the middle of the lake, while the mechanics tuned up the engines and began refuelling with 300 gallons of petrol. . The blast occurred just as the airman was outlining his plans for proceeding to San Diego immediately on a non-stop flight of 400 miles. It is presumed that some of the gasoline that was being poured into the fuel tanks dripped on to a part of the heated engine, causing the explosion. NEW MACHINE OFFERED. FLIGHT TO BE RESUMED. Received April 7, 9 p.m. Washington, April 6. The Assistant Secretary to the War Division has offered De Pinedo full use of the United States army plane equipment and personnel to replace the burned plane, so as to enable him to continue his flight, till an Italian replacement plane can be shipped. The War Department also cabled its regrets at the accident to Signor Mussolini. De Pinedo thanked the War Department, but will wait the arrival of a new plane from Italy before resuming his flight.