HOME-MADE PLANE CRASHES

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1929, Page 13

HOME-MADE PLANE CRASHES

'AUCKLAND PILOT INJURED. LATER ACCIDENT IN STREET. . By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Last, Night. An attempt by Mr. E. Everson' to fly his home-made monoplane Evo on the Mangero speedway ended in disaster today, but the pilot was extricated from the wreckage. uninjured.- He expressed his determination to “come, again.” The machine- nose-dived after gliding off' & ridge; and within a few seconds tho fruits of a ycar’d labour and an investment of £6O were reduced to a tangled mass of wood, metal and canvas. ;

“I slammed the tail down and kept on the ground until up to the edge of the cliff,” said Mr. Everson. “I think I got the speed up to about 45 miles an nouri and then I pulled the stick back. She cleared tho ground but I wanted more speed so I put the nose down,, I hoped to zoom and fly over the Aero Club’s property. Tho undercarriage struck. & bump which I had not seen—it was just roped off. There was a sheer drop on to tho motor race track and I knew it was all up.

“Although I pulled the stick right back I could not stop the nose-dive. It seemed a long way to drop and tho plane hit the ground with ft' wallop. The nose ploughed into the mud, and if I had not been strapped in I would have been killed. Everything collapsed and the engine was twisted upside down in tho frame.” ; Air. Everson’s companions rushed to the wrecked machine and tore aWay tho twisted materia). They found the pilot lightly scratched. ■' '

“It knocks you a bit, but I have plana for an all-aluminium plane,” said Mr. Everson later. “Although this machina 1 is finished I consider I have been repaid by the knowledge I have gained.’* A few hours after his aerial mishap Air. Everson again met misfortune. While driving a motor-car . in Queen Street he was compelled to swerve to avoid a pedestrian. The pedestrian wap struck lightly with the mudguard but ’ the motor-car crashed into a tram polo aud a passenger received a gash in the head from the shattered windshield. “Fes, it seems that I have had a run of hard luck but I do not worry a toss and I will bo starting on another aeroplane,” remarked Air. Everson.