DISQUALIFIED FOR LIFE.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 February 1933, Page 2

DISQUALIFIED FOR LIFE.

(To the Editor.) Sir,— Having noticed in the columns of your paper that a New Plymouth pilot has been disqualified for life for reckless flying, the question occurs to us: what constitutes recklessness from an aviator’s point of view, or even from an ordinary citizen’s viewpoint. Surely if the New Plymouth pilot’s stunt is reckless then Lindberg’s flight of the Atlantic, or even Chichester’s flight to Lord Howe Island, must be considered as utter foolhardiness. Yet the public, including aviation circles, applaud these flights as bringing the science of aviation nearer to the average person.

It occurs to us to ask whether the New Plymouth pilot was stunting at a low altitude or whether h 6 was simply flying straight and in reach of good landing places in case of engine failure. Whilst being without knowledge of the circumstances, nevertheless we think these queries would have a bearing upon the question of his having made an error of judgment; We noticed during the New Plymouth pageant that stunting at a very low altitude was indulged in immediately over the heads of the sightseers. Granted that it was done by aviators of experience; it does not alter the fact that these aviators had before them exactly the same chances of engine failure as the New Plymouth pilot had. We ask which was the more darigerous? There is also another aspect, the war view. As old “Diggers,” we can say from experience that nothing would have been accomplished by our aviators during the war without their fearlessness, and in our opinion the New Plymouth pilot’s only fault is lack of fear. Therefore, from an aviation point of view he is the best- type of officer. The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. Maybe some future battle will be won from the aerodrome of New Plymouth. Aviation is still in its infancy, and unless some initiative is allowed to our young flyers we shall find when the time comes that the cream of our young men will lack that extra sense of. derring do that made the British nation great and which alone will keep our nation to the forefront. Much as we deplore war still we must be prepared, and on this score alone, we base our appeal for the New Plymouth pilot, and plead that the authorities reconsider his case, and that of any others of his calibre. We are etc., TWO OLD DIGGERS.