AERIAL LIFE-SAVING

Taranaki Daily News, 27 February 1931, Page 12

AERIAL LIFE-SAVING

PARACHUTE DESCENIS EXPERT’S EXPERIENCES. THRILLING DIVES INTO SPACE. If you fall 2000 feet you do not lose consciousness. Any doubter of this assertion may refer to a quiet-spoken man who arrived in New Plymouth last night. He is Lieutenant Haakon Quiller, who has a passion for parachute descents, aiid who will show those who visit the New Plymouth Aero Club’s pageant to-morrow, ■what he can do.

The visitor, who is a Norwegian, has vivid recollections of a more rapid plunge into space that he bargained for, and he regards as his greatest thrill. Ten years ago, he almost lost his life through fautly construction in the type of parachute existing in those days.. He jumped from an aeroplane at a height of 2500 feet, and, after he had fallen about 1000 feet and nothing happened, he realised that he had to do something to get the parachute to operate. He tore the container- of his safety device to his front, and ripped the parachute out. He had fallen 200 feet before it billowed out, and broke his fall. That experience interested many doctors .in Norway, as they were under the impression that a man falling more than 1500 feet would be rendered unconscious. Quiller discovered that such a fall did not affect the human physique in any serious way. Quietly the parachutist said that dropping from the sky at the fate of 1000 feet a minute is a delightful experience. In calm, comfortable weather a parachute descent is really the poetry of motion. But one would not think so as he relates his experiences. In addition to his initial gamble with death, undertaken in the capacity of a journalist to give the public an impression of aerial diving, he has had other narrow escapes. At Bondi, Sydney, not so long ago he landed on some flats from a height of 5000 feet, and his parachute caught iu electric wires. Immediately the wires fused, and there was a blinding flash. It was thought that he had been electrocuted, but he escaped with abrasions and cuts on the leg, face and chest. He refused to go to hospital. Plunging from a plane over the Sydney Domain on another occasion he crashed into the branches of a large fig tree. “He’s killed!” shouted the crowd as they surged around. Quiller was not killed. Balancing himself on a branch, he lit a- cigarette. Undertaking a descent from 4000 feet in rough weather in order to make meteorological observations, Quiller was carried four miles out to sea.' He set off from Mascot aerodrome and dropped a miniature parachute to test the conditions. Satisfied, he made his leap, and landed safetly enough in the water. Surf boats'- that were to have gone to his rescue, however, dd not put in an appearance, havipg been deceived by the miniature parachute which landed on the shore. jTlie consequence was that Quiller drifted round for two hours before being picked up by a coastal steamer. He was told by a fisherman later that forty and fifty maneating shrks had been seen at a time at the spot where he landed. The type of parachute which the Norwegian uses works automatically, and so differs from the American. A man using the American parachute has to jump, judge his clearance from the ’plan,e and pull a ripcord ring, which causes the parachute to open. The parachute Lieutenant Quiller uses cannot open until he is a certain distance from the ’plane, beyond danger ot .becoming entangled with the machine. With the automatic device, a wounded man could crawl from the cockpit of an aeroplane and the parachute would do the rest. Lieutenant Quiller pointed out that most air accidents occurred from low heights. In order to make it possible for a pilot to leave a ’plane in such an emergency, he had conducted specialised instruction showing pilots the quickest way of leaving certain types of aeroplanes, commencing practice from a flying position on the ground, and. later jumping from ’planes at the highest possible speed. He had reduced the tune to three seconds. Until men had received more education in air sense it was .wrong to depend upon human natuie .in an extreme situation in case of emergency. One of the objects of his visits to New Zealand was to interest aero clubs in parachute instruction. He had on occasions reproduced his fall from ~sooft whicli almost Cost him his life in Norway, but he would not attempt that. All his demonstrations should be of value of aerial life saving, and an accident caused in that way would be the worst thing imaginable for the cause for which he was fighting.