FORCED LANDINS IN SNOW

Taranaki Daily News, 22 November 1929, Page 9

FORCED LANDINS IN SNOW

COMMANDER BYRD’S FLIGHT MOTOR CUTS OUT SUDDENLY NINETY MILES FROM CAMP (Byrd Expedition.—Copyright). Bay of Whales, Nov. 19. , Commander Byrd made a successful ‘flight to the Queen Maud Range, 440 - flight to the Queen Maud Range, 440 miles south of Little America, on the edge of the polar plateau, although on the way back he was forced down bylack of fuel to causes as yet unknown. He landed 90 miles south of Little? America last'night on the return trip,', and’ fuel was taken out in the otherplane. It was unusually cold and the crew of the big Ford, which made the base-laying flight, is probably waiting for the sun to get higher and make the task of warming and cranking the motors easier. - The trip was remarkable because of the two landings, both of which were J Jar from smooth. Every pilot. knows the danger of landing in a wilderness on a rough, unknown surface. The landing at the mountains was made with a heavy load, and although it was bumpy the plane stood the strain well. On the way .home the motors cut out over one of the worst places on the .whole route, where the sastrigi, or high snow ridges, run east and west and form a dangerous field. But again the • big plane was set down safely. The landing, however, caused some bitter moments last night before it was known that everyone was safe and the plane undamaged. For two or three hours it was thought the plane must have crashed somewhere because of an accident in the air or in a landing. A message from the plane had been? broken in the middle with no further indication of what might havb happened. As time went on and radio' com-,A munication from the ground had not been established everyone thought of a forced landing. ' - ’ STRAIN OF AWAITING NEWS. It was a silent, strained group of men, many of them profoundly affected, that waited for the good word that, tho commander with his men and-plane were uninjured. In the trial flights the plane . performed excellently and in one test it was taken to 12,600 feet with a six ton load and at that height had considerable climb left. Tho weather held fine and it seemed to be a good opportunity to put down tho fuel base at the mountains for use on the polar flight. The' floor of the cabin was covered with cases of gasolene and oil to be cached at the mountain base. At . the take-off’ the load exceeded 14,000 pounds, a good leftid to lift with skis from the barrier and a mighty heavy load to set down on the rolling snow near the mountains. The pilot on this trip was Dean Smith, and Harold June had . charge of the radio. Captain. Ashley McKinley went alone as aerial surveyor to take photographs. On Commander Byrd, of course, devolved the duty of navigating over J,he blind?? waste, and he also hoped to find on this flight a good path through the =-• mountains to the plateau. ' ■■■ ---' Tho plane taxied down to the eastern end of the shallow basin in which the - eamp lies and in not more than 30 seconds was off the ground and climbing slowly out over the bay in a perfect take-off. Dean Smith circled the camp once and then headed south and in a few minutes tho plane was out of sight against the clear sky. Occasional brief ' radio messages were followed five hours later by an announcement over the air from Commander Byrd that the plane had reached the mountains and was looking for a landing field. Finally, when we heard nothing more, the decision was made to get out the Fairchild piano to go and investigate. Haines and Bernt Belchen flew south with extra gasolene, food and warm clothing. Their radio worked well and ’ wo heard them throughout the hour’s run south, until suddenly they reported that they saw the other' plane and would land alongside, it. . ? . It transpired afterwards that they tried to send a radio from fho ground, ■ but wo heard nothing. Within another hour, however, we heard tho Fairchild in the air again and the welcome news that everyone was safe. It returned to camp shortly and received a riotous welcome. They had left gasolene for the Ford, which would return as soon as •? possible after warming up. - -A . A later message says Commander Byrd had safely returned to the base.